(Don't) Say My Name
by SharktoothSARA
Summary: "I want you both to create a spell in which the subject feels affection towards me every time I utter their name." But Vlad never mentioned what KIND of 'affection' he wanted... One where Vlad gets creative, Danny gets confused, and two side characters get revenge. Rated MA for some language and adult themes. Attempted slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

(Don't) Say My Name - Chapter 1

* * *

Vlad Plasmius floats above a smoking hole in the wall where a cell door once stood quite solidly. "Are you willing to work for your freedom?"

Freakshow stands up, dusts himself off and grins up at his rescuer, noticing a female ghost floating behind him, "Anything would be more interesting than this. What do you have in mind?"

* * *

Vlad paces in front of his newly 'hired' employees, "I have released you both from your respective prisons to do me one favour in exchange for your freedom. Should you refuse or fail me then I will promptly return you to live out the rest of your miserable lives behind your cell walls. Understood?"

Freakshow ignores the threat pointedly and turns to the ghost at his side to introduce himself, "Freakshow. What were you in for?"

"Ember, I replaced CD's from all over the continent with my own to grow my fan-base and powers. I got caught trafficking 'human contraband' between portals but I always managed to slip away because I was getting stronger. I got stupid. The Warden surprised me by overshadowing a fan and caught me." She shrugs, "It was a good gig while it lasted, I know what to do now when I'm free. What about you?"

Freakshow whistled appreciatively at Ember's creativity, "Very nice. My story isn't nearly as exciting. I was-"

"If you two are _quite_ finished, I'd like to get to the part where you do my bidding before continuing on wasting your freedom _blabbering about the past."_

Ember and Freakshow stiffen, angry but silent, waiting for the volatile hybrid to reveal his intentions.

Satisfied, Vlad starts pacing, "I want you two to create a spell for me. Combining a _gentle application_ of mind-control with musical hypnosis should do the trick. But I must stress how _delicate_ this spell should be. The subject needs to feel completely in control of their faculties and accountable for all _feelings_ that may arise." He turns to face them, "I want you both to create a spell in which the subject feels _affection_ towards me every time I utter their name. Is this within your area of expertise?"

The two look to each other and deliberate.

"It could work by tampering with their memory…"

"Memory won't work, my powers are more focused on the present, not the past." Ember tilts her head in thought, "How about a small filter in the eardrum? We could make the filter rearrange any words said to sound endearing…"

"No that'll be suspicious if this subject is not already used to receiving endearment. It would not change feelings, just sounds. Considering the affect of the spell I'm assuming you aren't on friendly terms with the subject, correct Mr. Plasmius?" Freakshow turns to Vlad.

"Obviously not." He growls back, rolling his red eyes.

Freakshow hums but ignores the attitude, turning back to Ember, "What else could we do? How's your hypnosis work? Do you normally create filters, because that's not exactly hypnosis you know…"

Ember shakes her head, "No, my music creates suggestions in the mind. No filters, I work with the hearts of my fans, manipulating their impulse control and gut-instinct. How do you normally do your thing?"

"It's actually a pretty funny stor-"

"While you two continue to dilly-dally in idle conversation, I have some rather important business to attend to at my desk. Can I trust you both to complete this task without my supervision before the week is out?"

Ember rolls her eyes and presents the middle finger to Vlad, who scoffs. "We need some deets before you go, old-timer, and it won't take _that_ long for one silly spell."

"Alright, what information do you need?" Vlad is getting too excited to rise to the name-calling. Sooner than a week?

"The name of the subject, duh."

Vlad smiles, "Daniel."

"…you mean Baby-pop? _That's_ who this is about? Why?"

"I wouldn't expect a low-level one-hit-wonder _ghost girl,_ nor a lonely _human_ with an unhealthy amount of ghost-envy to understand the complex workings of even the simplest of my plans. I will suffice to say if all goes according to plan, young Daniel will no longer run from me and either become my protégé or simply fall out of the ghost business for good. I do not really care either way."

Ember and Freakshow both frown at Vlad as he walks away, Ember pulling her eyelid and sticking her tongue out for good measure. "What a dick!" She grouses. "I mean, if he's so goddamned smart why doesn't he do the spell himself! Oh wait! He _needs_ our help! Idiot! Pissing me off then asking for a favour…" She shakes her fist at the doorway before crossing her arms.

Freakshow agrees thoughtfully, an idea forming in his mind. "Hey _ghost girl,_ want to have some fun with this?"

"I like the look on your face. What do you have in mind, _human_?"

Freakshow gestures for her to come closer, he whispers in her ear, "Lets make the spell go _both ways."_

Ember pauses before realization has her laughing uncontrollably. "Y-you mean when the kid...? Ha ha ha ha! Yes! Ohhh yes I _love_ that!"

The two grin evilly and take a seat at a work bench, beginning their work with renewed vigor.

The best part about the whole thing is, Vlad never mentioned what _kind_ of affection he wanted. So the two cackle and crow, Ember warms up her guitar and they spend the better part of the evening twisting spells and notes into one hell of a show.

* * *

Vlad jumps and transforms when his study door is thrown open, banging off the wall loudly, startling the peace and quiet he was enjoying. Freakshow and Ember stand in the entryway, watching with amusement as Vlad tries to brush it off nonchalantly. "Does this rude interruption mean my spell is done already or did you two just grow bored with your freedom and wish to return to your cells?"

"It's all done, Mr. Plasmius, your spell is ready for application. Would you care to learn how we did it?" Freakshow asks politely.

Ember steps forward excitedly, "We decided to use a combination of Freaksh-"

"No. I don't care. So long as it works the way I specifically requested, you can spare me the long-winded details." Vlad cut them off abruptly, moving closer to them and folding his arms.

Ember pouts and replies, "Fine. When do you want to start?"

"Obviously as soon as possible. What do I need to do?"

Freakshow cuts in, "Unfortunately we need you and the kid to be in close proximity of each other when the spell begins. It will bounce from you to him and back again."

"Yeah! Just start a fight with him or whatever and then I'll show up and blast our tune at you guys. I'll act all drained from the spell and you can 'capture' me and haul me away. This will give him a break to let it all 'sink in' and not be suspicious when I just leave again. Capiche?"

Vlad hums thoughtfully and the two employees sweat, hoping he will take the bait.

"I understand. All of this makes sense to me. We will do this straight away, come, I will teleport us to his home. He should be in bed at this time."

Freakshow and Ember exchange victorious smirks and step forward. This show is about to get _really interesting._


	2. Chapter 2

(Don't) Say My Name - Chapter 2

* * *

Danny sits up abruptly, the traces of his ghost breath causing him to groan and crawl out of bed. Looking out the window he nearly yelps as he sees Plasmius floating there, smirking.

A transformed Danny Phantom flies over to his visitor, lazily tossing a partially charged ecto-blast at his head.

Vlad easily dodges and clucks his tongue, "Dear boy, is that any way to greet someone? Surely your parents taught you better than that?"

"Sorry Vlad, you're right." He pauses for a beat for dramatic effect, causing the older hybrid to raise an eyebrow. "They told me if I ever caught a creep looking in the windows that I should call the police. But if it's a _ghost creep_ , then I should kick their ass within an inch of their life and then capture it, for research purposes of course."

Vlad rolls his eyes, "Of course, no surprises there." He dodges another more accurately thrown ecto-blast from the teen and retaliates with a few of his own. He doesn't push too hard, he just keeps him dancing around and distracted while Ember sets up her bass. This takes much more concentration now that the teen is older, but he still has much to learn before equaling Vlad in prowess.

A few testing strums brings the surprised attention of the two hybrids, Danny's being genuine and Vlad's being a bit put on.

"Hello Baby-pop! Old-timer! I'm here to ROCK YOUR WORLDS!" Ember hollered into the microphone, strumming a few more deep chords, and starting up a quick, fast-paced song.

Vlad notices more than a few bedroom windows suddenly light up and discreetly gestured for her to speed things up.

Danny laughs before he can help himself, " _'Old timer?'_ Ha! That's hilarious! Even the ghosts that have been dead for _who knows how long_ are calling you old!"

Vlad growls and his fists begin to radiate pink power, glowing brighter and brighter, like he was charging up a particularly powerful attack. Danny, seeing this, follows suit, eyes darting between the ghost on the pavement and the ghost in the air.

Ember adjusts a few knobs on her guitar, pauses to wink at the boys before slamming her hand down into an even deeper chorus. The guitar bursts a pink, red and black beam of pure power that bounces between the two halfas, causing them to get thrown back, the musician laughing wickedly before launching into a wild solo.

Vlad recovers first (being subtly prepared will do that) and tackles her to the ground, grappling back and forth before wrapping pink energy ropes around her to subdue her. He looks over his shoulder at Danny, who can't make up his mind whether or not to help his enemy capture another enemy. "Do not worry, Little Badger, I will return to continue this conversation with you at a later date. Tata!" And with that, Vlad and a struggling Ember disappear in a cloud of pink mist.

"I have GOT to learn to teleport." Danny muses, checking himself for any injuries and finding none. He shrugs and heads back to bed.

Freakshow watches from the bushes, pleased with the outcome of the show, sure that Danny doesn't suspect a thing.

* * *

"And then he just teleported her out of there! It was the weirdest thing, but I wasn't gonna complain. I just went right back to bed."

"Danny!" Sam reproaches him, "What if Vlad came back for you after? You let your guard down."

Danny just waves the reprimand off, "What am I supposed to do, wait up for him all night? Come on Sam, he said he'd 'continue the conversation at a later date'. That means _not now._ That means I get to _go back to bed."_ Danny closes his locker and leads his friends to class.

"Yeah dude, but what if he was lying?" Tucker chimes in.

"Well he didn't, so I would've been up worrying for nothing. Come on guys, Vlad wouldn't lie about something like that. It's too insignificant. He would want me to know if he's coming back, He might've even told me to stay put." He pauses and considers the situation and snorts, "He definitely would've said it like that too."

Tucker shook his head, "You trusting a man who _lies for a living_ is crazy Danny. He's a politician! He's _supposed_ to sound convincing."

Danny decides to allow it just to drop the subject, they were at the classroom doorway now and couldn't discuss ghost matters in such a confined space. He never doubted Vlad was lying, it was not the older halfa's style to lie about petty little things like that. He has a twisted sense of honour, but he _does_ have one.

The bell rang and the teens settled in to another torturous math lecture.

* * *

Vlad sips his cappuccino and looks through the morning paper at a café patio. He has an excellent view of the street, and in the distance, the local public high school. He pretends to read but his excitement keeps his thoughts looping back to the spell. Freakshow believes the kid doesn't suspect a thing.

 _'Finally! The boy will be disarmed and I can remove his ghost powers, leaving me alone to do as I please at last! I shouldn't need to go through such lengths to deal with a mere child, this is getting ridiculous. If this spell works the way I want it to then Daniel will feel no desire to fight with me anymore and I will be able to manipulate him with ease.'_

Danny, Sam and Tucker finally come into view, arguing loudly about the latest test Mr. Lancer threw at them. Vlad waits for them to pass the cafe before he steps behind them, "Daniel Fenton." He says clearly and confidently.

Danny freezes, shoulders straight. He slowly turns and looks at who is behind him. The other two leap back and scream.

Vlad laughs and watches with curiosity as Danny's eyes narrow suspiciously. Danny shakes his head and greets the man, "Mr. Mayor! What is it now?" He says in an overly-pleasant voice, subtly shifting his weight forward in case he needs to move fast. He eyes the hyrbid wearily, painfully aware that they are in a very public space.

Vlad chuckles and says, "Oh nothing in particular _Daniel_ , I just happen to be in the area for a cup of coffee. I thought to myself 'Well now, _Daniel_ goes to school in this area, maybe I'll see him on his walk home. Do you want a ride with me today instead, _Daniel?"_ He grinned, he had to use the boy's name as much as possible to make the spell really pack a punch.

Danny seemed very hesitant, each use of his name was causing weird pinpricks in the back of his skull and a tug in his stomach. He eyed the man before him, unsure if he should be engaging in possible conflict in the open when he doesn't feel 100% himself. He tilted his head and stepped back, "I don't want to fight you today Plasmius." He hisses quietly, not feeling the usual adrenaline rush that helps sharpen his tongue and reflexes both.

His friends take his cue and loosen their defensive stances as well. Tucker speaks first, "Yeah beat it, Buster. Don't you have a life of your own?"

"Why do you want to drive him today anyway? We're almost there now. Moron."

Vlad sighs, "Aren't you brats a little old to be using childish name-calling? Or am I to understand you were held back in school for your sheer lack of intelligence? Forgive me, I'm not looking at seniors ready to graduate, I must be looking at children." He grins as his words cause the 3 to bristle and nearly growl at him. "Well Daniel, I'll take my leave then. Perhaps we can chat another time when you are not… _babysitting_." He turns and throws one last comment over his shoulder, "Ta-ta _Daniel_."

As he walks away, neither of the 3 confused teens see his wicked smirk and just look to each other in confusion.

Sam and Tucker start chattering immediately.

"What the hell was that? What just happened?"

"Why did he use your name so much? Wasn't that just _creepy?_ "

"What do you think he really wanted?"

"Yeah what's with the invite to 'drive home?' Since when is Vlad _nice_? It must be a trap."

Danny just frowns and looks at his friends, his head feels very stuffy and prickly and he keeps glancing around himself, paranoid. There is a sense of _wrongness_ in his gut which he usually likes to trust but now he feels very compromised. He opts to wait it out and see if it will settle down on its own. _'It's probably just upset because Vlad is such a fruitloop.'_

"Danny?"

"Earth to Danny! Come iiiiin Danny!"

Sam gave him a punch in the shoulder, causing the teen to flinch and look up to two very concerned friends. He sheepishly explains he zoned out trying to figure out what Vlad wanted and the other two start in on conspiracy theories, Danny doing his best to contribute, feeling his headache trickle away very slowly.

Ember and Freakshow (who happen to be disguised and watching from a few tables away) look to each other and face palm. "How could we forget the nicknames?!" Screeches Freakshow.

Ember sighs, "I guess I thought they were more civil than that. Should we fix the spell?"

Freakshow growls, "I'm still a little tired to be honest. It was so complicated making two spells that had such specific targets in such a short burst."

"Yeah it would be way easier if they could freak out just hearing _anyone_ say their names... could you _just imagine!"_ Ember snorts, "But maybe this is better, when the kid finally says his name it'll be such a surprise for the poor old timer he won't know what to do with himself!"

Freakshow nods, thinking about it, "They'll probably be in public when it happens. He can't very well call him by his ghost name when surrounded by their peers." His smile turns downright lecherous, "And Mr. Masters will figure it out right away but not be able to say a thing, he'll just have to take it!" He crows with glee, high fiving the ghost at his side. Ember grabs his shoulder and turns them invisible. "Lets go see how long it takes for the ball to get rolling."

* * *

It does not take long.

Vlad can't help himself, he's so very excited to put his plan into action as quickly as possible. As soon as Danny puts his guard down, Vlad is prepared to capture him and remove his ghost half. But that is only Plan B. First there is a potential to take the teenager in as an apprentice with his sudden newfound affection. He will definitely explore that a little bit. He imagines how formidable the pair would be working together. Why the other ghosts would never _dare_ to touch them! They could have _the world!_

Vlad meets Danny just outside the school the very next afternoon, grinning as the 3 students groan when they see him. "What do you want _today,_ Masters?" Danny tries to shoulder by the man, knowing he can't attack him with so many students milling around, pointing and whispering about the Mayor of Amity Park.

Vlad plasters on a pleasant smile that looks anything but, puts an iron grip on Danny's shoulder just as he is about to pass him, and roughly brings the teen near enough to speak lowly in his ear, "I mean you no harm today, Little Badger. Perhaps we could enjoy a friendly conversation on the way back to your home? I chose to meet you right at the school, so no excuses today Daniel." He gestures to the limo parked shrugs off the hand and the goosebumps, trying to think through the prickling sensations in his skull. "Just leave me alone _Plasmius."_ Danny hisses, rubbing his temples.

Vlad smiles broadly at the action, knowing exactly what is going on inside Danny's head. "Oh Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Do you have a headache dear boy?" He asks sickeningly sweetly, stepping close and putting a wrist to the teenagers flushed forehead.

The action sends Danny into a panic. His eyes bulge as he tries to hide the tumultuous thoughts and feelings suddenly forcing their way in his skull. His brain is tingling so hard it almost hurts, his stomach is tugging very uncomfortably, his heart is hammering wildly and he can feel himself overheating. The problem?

Vlad. Is. Too. Close.

He is suddenly and painfully aware of the warmth coming off of the man, the smell of his expensive cologne and hear the gentle rustle of his clothes slide as he moves. But the worst of it all is Danny doesn't _want_ to move away, in fact, he wants to lean in, close his eyes and inhale the scent, maybe even feel the fabric of Vlad's suit-

'WHAT THE HELL!'

He rears back from Vlad, shuts his mind off violently and blurts out "I have homework!" before bolting down the sidewalk, his two best friends yelling and peeling after him.

Vlad is a little surprised by the reaction but pleased the spell is obviously somehow affecting the teen. It's not as instantaneous as he wants but figures some constant pressure should do the trick. He smiles and makes his way back to his limo. He has a phone-call to make…


	3. Chapter 3

(Don't) Say My Name - Chapter 3

* * *

Sam and Tucker immediately round on Danny for questions as soon and they get into his room. He has no idea why he wanted to suddenly be closer to Vlad so how is he supposed to explain this to his friends?

"I felt… weird?" He says lamely.

"No shit! You're acting weird! What happened back there?" Sam frowns, trying to understand where the threat is.

"I don't know! I didn't feel very good. And Vlad was being strange."

"Danny, Vlad didn't really do anything… for a change."

Tucker puts a hand on Danny's shoulder, "It's okay dude, take a breath. Explain to us what went through your mind and we can figure it out together."

"Yeah, then we can go kick Vlad's ass!" Sam chimes in.

Danny sighs, his friends are entirely too good to him. "Okay, well, Vlad came up to us and I got a headache right away."

The two teens snicker and Danny smiles patiently, just happy his headache is already subsiding, "Not like that guys! Well, maybe like that actually..." He tilts his head thoughtfully. "I don't really know what I mean, to be honest."

"It's okay Danny, just give us some word-vomit and we can try to make sense of it all after." Sam encourages, patting his arm.

"Jeez guys, I don't know! Like you said - nothing really happened! He talked, I got a headache, whatever. I'm not gonna fight him when I'm off my game, ya know? I left before he could do anything. So let's just drop it, alright?"

There's a long, obvious pause as everyone silently acknowledges that Danny is lying, and everyone knows it.

"Fine Danny, nothing happened. But if anything does happen then you better march your ass right back to us and explain immediately."

He nods seriously and sits on his bed, fiddling with his backpack while Sam and Tucker set up their own respective homework stations. Danny takes his time and lets his mind wander. _'What DID Vlad want anyway? Drive me home? No way, something like that's beneath him… there must be a hidden meaning in there… like maybe a trap? A GHOST trap? Well then he wouldn't be able to get in the car too…hmmm.'_

He pulls open his textbook and notebook, absently lining his pencil and eraser perfectly with his books. He does his best to not think about what was going through his mind earlier, which naturally makes him think about it more.

 _'Vlad… What the FUCK happened there? I was… leaning TOWARDS him? And I felt this PULL… holy shit, what a scary thought! What was I thinking? He could've taken advantage of that, I need to be more careful.'_

He decides to leave it at that and gets to more important things, like his homework.

A few hours later, Maddie pokes her head in, "Dinner's ready kids, wash up and help set the table. Oh, and Danny?"

"Yeah mom?"

"Fix that crazy hair of yours, Vlad will be here tonight."

* * *

The gravy boat titters and clatters on its saucer as Danny passes it. He ducks his head and mutters an apology.

"Pay it no mind, Daniel."

Vlad grins down at the slouching teen next to him. How he loves making Daniel uncomfortable!

It is exhilarating!

He watches as Danny's eyes briefly become unfocused, the sweat on his brow starting to show. Yet again Vlad wonders why the spell isn't making it's subject more cheerful, courteous and even friendly towards him.

 _'He is definitely reacting, there's no doubt in my mind that the spell is working. But why does he perspire so? Is he fighting it that hard?'_ Vlad's heart sinks at the thought, _'Is it so difficult to be friendly with me? I've hardly antagonized him for a couple of years now...'_ He can't help feeling disappointed, the more he thinks of this spell's potential, the more he hopes Daniel will turn around and accept him in SOME capacity. For Danny to willingly work with Vlad and in turn learn more about their unique half-ghost makeup. There's so much that Danny doesn't know that Vlad should – no needs – to tell him. But that will come in due time. It may be slower than he wanted but the spell IS working, that is without a doubt.

Danny takes another poke to the shin, knowing its coming from Sam and looks to her with just his eyes. She raises her eyebrow to silently ask if he's OK and he responds with a small nod, dabbing his forehead with his napkin. So far this whole dinner has been a mess and neither of his parents were even aware of his struggle.

It took Vlad all of 5 minutes to turn Danny into a nervous wreck and in such a simple way too: he takes small amounts of food on his plate, then insists on asking Danny EVERY TIME to pass something to him.

"Daniel, would you please pass the dinner buns?"

"Excuse me Daniel, could you please hand me the butter?"

"Sorry Daniel, could I also have the potatoes when you have a moment?"

And each time is always followed up with a 'Thank you, Daniel.'

Each sentence was making his head swim and his stomach flop and tug. Why was no one noticing anything? What about Vlad's excessive requests and what happened to his favourite nickname for Danny too? Also, can ANYBODY else please pass Vlad the goddamned peas and carrots?

Somewhere between the vegetables and the salt and pepper requests, it happens. The tugging hits him lower.

He feels the strange sensation in his dick.

 _'Whoa, salt and pepper isn't THAT exciting.'_

Then the shakers are handed back with another, "Thank you Daniel."

And he feels it again. An undeniable twitch from his pants.

 _'Oh my god, why the fuck?'_ He silently wills himself to calm down.

Jack distracts him from his thoughts, "Why don't you tell Vlad about where you're planning on applying for University, son?"

"R-right, yeah so I'm looking at majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry-"

"Same as me, isn't that wonderful Vlad?" Maddie seems to be bursting with pride. It causes Danny a bit of embarrassment as he mumbles for his mom to settle down.

"So… I planned on Stanford, Harvard and California Institute of Technology because they offer what I'm looking for."

"My that is impressive! And university no less! This must mean your marks have improved considerably over the years. Well done Daniel, well done."

Yet again he feels some blood surge downstream.

 _'No. No. No. No. NO. This can NOT be happening right now.'_ He just barely stops himself from sending an accusatory glare to his lap. He opts to ignore it as best he can and focus on the conversation, easier said than done when his body wants him to start thinking with his other head…

"And now you're almost done your final year! I dearly hope you aren't shirking your studies in anticipation for graduation Daniel, this is when the marks count most of course."

Danny just stares at Vlad, realization and horror pricking his skull. His little 'problem' is only happening when Vlad speaks…

Vlad is… turning him on? …? …? …?

"Daniel? Daniel are you alright? What's going on in there Daniel?" Vlad's 'concerned mayor' voice breaks his concentration.

He feels more blood rush south fast, and he knows there's no way he will be able to conceal his boner from his family if he were to stand before them.

…! …!

"Yeah uh-" his voice cracks embarrassingly and he starts again, "Ahem. Yeah n-no problems with homework. We always study together, r-right guys?" He looks to his friends for support, _'Save me?'_

Tucker only nods and continues to stuff his face, Sam rolls her eyes and speaks up. Beautiful, angelic Sam.

"Yes Mr. Masters, we always make sure everyone is on track. Our first year was tough balancing everything LIFE has to throw at us, but we got a system together since then." She answers icily, "Now no matter what idiotic problem comes along, we can handle it." She stares longer than necessary into Vlad's eyes, telling him just who she means by 'idiotic problem.'

Vlad rolls his eyes at her and plasters on one of the brightest, fakest smiles he can muster, "I am so glad to hear that, Miss Manson. I am sure Daniel's parents are just as happy as I am to see how mature you three have turned out."

Daniel sinks lower in his seat, he would love to join in the hidden battle here but he definitely can't help reacting every time Vlad opens his damnned mouth. Now is not the time to outright antagonize the man. Danny is doing his best to tune out Vlad's words, hoping not hearing him will help.

It doesn't.

"Yeah the kids are great! So smart! Smarter than I was in high school." Jack adds sheepishly.

"No doubt in my mind Jack," Vlad rolls his eyes, "But the real question here is," he pauses for dramatic affect, "what will you DO with his room?"

Maddie giggles and looks to her son apologetically, "Well we HAVE been thinking about it actually..."

Jack weighs in, putting an arm around his wife's shoulders, "We were thinking since Jazzy's room is a guest room that we could turn Danny's into something fun!"

"Jack! We discussed this, it's going to be an office for finer detail work." Maddie turns to Vlad, "The company wants me to develop miniature ghost weapons, things like pens and watches and such. It would be great to not always work at the dinner table…"

Vlad hums with feigned interest, listening to the developments like as if it wasn't his own idea to begin with. Vlad had opened an ecto-energy weapon manufacturing company to bring together all his potential enemies under one roof, keeping them busy and out of his way as he builds his empire. It helps too that he makes a lot of money selling them off to the GIW and various other similar organizations around the world.

Vlad turns to Danny, taking in his slouched and miserable disposition. _'The spell is working but maybe it's just weak?'_ Vlad wonders if he needs to be more aggressive. _'Let's try being more forward then.'_ He leans towards the teen and asks in a deeper but still loud stage-whisper, "Are you sure you're okay with all this talk of your room? You're not too put out are you, Daniel?" He grins as he hears Maddie and Jack giggle at the act.

Danny, however, is not acting when he lets out a very small whimper, eyes falling shut and leaning ever so slightly towards Vlad.

Vlad freezes. Danny freezes. Maddie worriedly asks if Danny maybe IS a little upset about the conversation. Bless her soul.

Danny snaps his eyes open and straightens up. His cheeks are now full-blown red, he casts his eyes down and then flusters. He puts his hands in his lap, straight-elbowed, and looks over at Vlad with panic clear as day in his eyes. "I'm fine!" He squeaks in an octave not normal for a young man his age.

Sam and Tucker stop eating all-together, attention focused solely between Danny and Vlad. They have never heard him make a noise like that before.

Vlad leans in further, concern taking over for a moment and rests a wrist against the flustered teen's forehead. "What is it Daniel? Are you feeling alright?" His eyes wander over the rapidly nodding teen and finally settle on the hands in his lap and the oddly familiar position they are in… Almost like…

Almost like Daniel's trying to _hide a problem_.

Every male in existence knows what that position means.

 _'Daniel is… aroused…?'_ Vlad is a little confused as to what would cause Danny to be so suddenly- _'The spell…!'_ He immediately puts two and two together and nearly growls in annoyance. _'But of course those two would do something like this… So he's been – every time I say his name? - and I haven't exactly been kind… Oh butter biscuits!'_ Vlad feels the blood well up in his face, averting his gaze from Danny's panicked eyes and shifting back in his seat.

"Perhaps we should give this topic a rest. Ahh Jack? Could you tell us about your latest work in ghost weapons? Madeline has the miniatures, what have you been working on?"

Danny, noting the blush and abrupt change in conversation, is thankful to Vlad for diverting his parents' attention. But that thought alone just confuses him. Since when has Vlad ever done something to make Danny thankful to him? He seemed to be enjoying teasing him, what's the problem now?

 _'I am NOT going to look a gift horse in the mouth.'_

Danny uses the distraction to take a deep breath and think of all the things that usually helps him out of these kinds of situations. He thinks of his father in a bikini, puppies left alone in the cold, and Tucker cross-dressing. It helps a bit, but not as effectively as usual. _'Of freakin' course.'_

He sneaks a peak at his friends and immediately wishes he didn't, both are staring at him intensely. He shakes his head subtly at them, promising to talk later.

Then he tentatively looks at Vlad, watching as he interacts with his parents in earnest. He inspects the man's profile, trying to figure out what he could suddenly be so attracted to after all these years. Why has this never been an issue until now? There were many times during their fights that things could have been intimate or weird, but they were too focused on one-upping each other to ever acknowledge it. Danny never before felt this tug or desire that his body kept screaming at him, so what's changed?  
Danny is not going to be able to puzzle it out now while Vlad is here, so he will have to wait until tonight to talk it out with his friends. He really REALLY wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

He rejoins the talk about his parents' ghost equipment and does his best not to stare at Vlad too much.

NOTE: This is my first story in all present tense, and I am beginning to realize I HATE present tense. Buuuut I wanted to challenge myself so here we are. If you review I will update faster ;)


	4. Chapter 4

(Don't) Say My Name - CHAPTER 4

* * *

"Are you going to finish that, girl?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, go ahead."

Ember watches her plate of fries slide over to Freakshow and sighs. "I thought this would be more fun! Why is it taking so long?"

Her companion grins around a fry, "Fear not my dear, he will slip up eventually. We just have to be patient."

"I know but I'm still nervous. I could _feel_ how angry Plasmius was when he found out how we changed his words around…" She shivers, "I only want to stick around long enough to see his face when the twerp says his name back. Then I'm getting the fuck outta here."

Freakshow nods thoughtfully, "Indeed, he will no doubt go looking for us. I am a little surprised he hasn't already. Maybe he's attempting to salvage the situation and still use the spell for personal gain…" He smirks, "His stubbornness will be our entertainment."

Ember just giggles at the implications, glad that Vlad should soon get what he deserves.

* * *

Freakshow was not wrong: Vlad is entirely too stubborn to quit so soon. The man paces his office at City Hall, pondering all the different ways he can still make use of the spell.

' _The spell certainly makes him feel a kind of affection towards me, but this is absolutely NOT what I had in mind… those brats KNEW it…'_ Vlad rolls his eyes and leans against his desk, _'Either way, this could still work… He'll be…_ attracted… _to me-'_ The man blanching at the thought. _'-But at least I'll be free to begin expanding my control to other cities and perhaps even the state! Who knows! I could even run for President and be in command of one of the top most powerful countries in the world!'_ Vlad beams at the thought, mind running wild with plots and plans. _'And Daniel will be at my side, ah-affectionate… oh dear…'_ He sweats a little at the wild images his mind is so helpfully supplying him. Those big blue eyes looking up at him while pressed into his side, needy, expectant… _'Th-there will need to be some boundaries…'_ Vlad does his best to distract himself and bury those thoughts deep, throwing himself into his desk chair.

He figures a quick phone call to Ms. Ishiyama will push his plans along nicely. He imagines the look on Danny's face when the teen realizes what he is up to and smirks. He carefully keeps his thoughts strictly professional.

* * *

Danny is currently frozen. Mind running rampant. White knuckle grip on the edge of his desk. Eyes wide open. Face otherwise blank with practised control.

Before him stands his Vice Principal Mr. Lancer and his Mayor, arch-nemesis, thorn in his side and latest mental tormentor _Vlad Masters._

' _Why is he here? What does this mean? Is he still messing with me? But he knows – he KNOWS what happened at dinner… He knows I have_ reactions _… He knows that I know he knows… '_ Danny's mind whirls with half formed thoughts, accusations and speculations. He carefully keeps his features neutral while he waits – along with the rest of the class - for an explanation.

"Wonderful news students! Mr. Masters will be sitting in on our class today. Let's show him what we've learned about so far this term and for the _love_ of Anne _Frank_ people, please keep your questions professional and your language respectful." He gestures for Vlad to address the class and shoots warning glares to the students.

"Forgive me Mr. Lancer but I doubt I'll receive the same result with such stiff formalities. If it'll be all the same to you, I'd much prefer we relax the proper words and titles and let the students simply ask what comes to mind. Also, I would prefer if everyone called me Vlad, I want everyone here to feel at ease and treat me as you would another classmate. I am merely here to observe the smart and colourful minds of our future men and women that will one day stand in our place." Vlad smiles cheerfully at the teacher, watching him sputter for words.

"Well, yes of course, I assume you know best what you'd like after all. This is your show Mr.-ah-Vlad. You have the floor, if you need anything at all I'll be catching up on marking." Mr. Lancer recovers himself and quickly sits down.

Vlad turns his attention to the class, landing his eyes on Danny and smirking at the sad attempt the teen was making to slouch so low in his seat he was barely visible. "Alright everyone," he claps his hands together, "lets rearrange this room!"

Vlad takes his coat off and throws it over a chair before beginning to roll up his sleeves. When he notices no one has moved he lifts an eyebrow, "Well? I'm not here to be ogled at, push all your desks against the walls and bring the chairs to form a circle in the center. I want to see each and every one of you."

Danny slowly turns to his best friends with wide eyes, feeling a very ugly and blotchy blush start to creep up his neck. On one hand, it's awesome they have homeroom together because Tucker and Sam can collectively cover for Danny when he misses classes but right now he is sincerely wishing they were not about to witness Danny enter one of the most awkward days of his high school career (and that includes dropping his drawers in front of Paulina!).

They both rise from their chairs, grinning like assholes, and begin to carry out Vlad's tasks. Danny starts to wonder why he even talked to them in the first place…

 ***CUE FLASHBACK***

"So." Tucker starts conversationally.

Sigh. "So?"

The teens are sitting up in Danny's room after that wreck of a dinner with Vlad, doing their best to ask about Danny's little problem down south without actually _looking_ at it. Or acknowledging it in any other capacity. To save everyone some grief, Danny has a pillow in his lap and is doing his best to pretend this isn't happening.

Danny scrubs a hand over his eyes and looks into the faces of his two best friends as he mentally prepares how he wants to tackle this. "So yeah... um that was... well I think I might - no wait, remember last week? ... ahhh no - well maybe, actually... ah _shit_..."

A pause.

"... So you don't have a career in public speaking..." Tucker offers, much to Danny's relief, "But look dude, it's _us_. Me and Sam. We got you, so just relax."

Sam nods her head along with Tucker, "It'll probably be awkward _considering_..." She gestures to the pillow and everyone cringes. "But we won't judge you. No matter what you come up with, we've more than likely seen worse."

Danny snorts, "Thanks for that." Feeling confident, he takes a breath and figures just blurting it all out is the best way. His friends said they won't judge him, so maybe they can help.

"I think I'm starting to like Vlad!"

Dead silence.

Sam and Tucker are just staring at him like he's currently growing three heads out of his shoulder. They alternate between looks of horror, realization, and suspicion.

Danny let's them wrestle with that and leans forward, hands hanging between his knees. He knows he spoke clearly enough so now it's just waiting for the wild accusations and possibly proving he isn't possessed. This IS Vlad after all...

The silence is finally broken by Sam, "Well that explains last week." She murmurs thoughtfully.

Tucker snorts and looks to her, "You think he's under some sort of spell? Maybe being mind-controlled or even possessed?" He flicks his gaze to Danny and ducks his head apologetically. "Sorry dude. I know we just said we wouldn't judge you but this is just too uhh _unexpected?_ "

Sam watches Danny fidget for a moment, "I don't think possession, his eyes would be red, and he'd probably be less embarrassed about _all this._ And I haven't seen Vlad do anything weird or radical except offer him a lift..." she hums thoughtfully.

"So this could be _genuine?"_ Tucker's voice drops to a hush and looks to Danny with his mouth hanging open. "Dude... He's _evil_ though."

Danny cringes, he was afraid of this part, "And I agree with you 100%. He is a total fruitloop. I still think that, I'm not brainwashed. Well, I don't _feel_ brainwashed. I can't just forget everything he's done to us and the town. I just don't know how else to explain this feeling." He considers it and tries, "So like, when he talks to me, I get this pounding in my head and a tug in my stomach and then I..." He flusters a bit at his next words, reminding himself quickly he's in a safe space, "I get the need to be c-closer and t-touch him..." his face burns as he hoarsely whispers out, "Oh my god, what the fuck guys! _I can't like VLAD_!"

"Well it sure as shit sounds like you do." Sam snorts, crossing her arms. "Let me channel Jazz-vibes here a minute but are you maybe falling for the whole 'want what you can't have' idea?"

"Jesus Christ _no!_ It's not like that!" Danny sputters, wildly embarrassed about ' _wanting Vlad.'_ Ugh.

"Okay, then what's it like?" Tucker asks innocently, still very much not convinced.

Danny pauses to piece together a way to explain this without being embarrassed enough to kill what's left of his humanity. But Tucker doesn't understand and is impatient, so he barrels on and ticks off each item on a finger, "I know you aren't shallow enough for it to be money, and it's not like Vlad has a lot in common with you besides the halfa status, also let's not forget his infatuation with your _mom_ , and his evil plans to rule the goddamned _world!_ So what's left Danny? Because the more I talk the more I convince myself you're definitely brainwashed!"

"I don't fucking know Tuck!" Danny shouts, standing and clenching his fists, "Alls I _DO_ know is I'm _NOT_ brainwashed and Vlad keeps turning me on!" He's so mad it takes him a minute to register his friends' silence.

But when he does, he finds himself suddenly invisible as Tucker and Sam start laughing uncontrollably.

 ***END FLASHBACK***

The class is rearranged so the desks are pushed away and the chairs are in a circle so everyone can see everyone else. Danny keeps his eyes low and takes his seat, expecting Sam and Tucker to sit on either side of him, as per usual. As the chair to his right is gently pulled back, Danny turns to whichever best friend it is to tell them how bogus this is and why isn't Mr. Lancer complaining about this when he finds himself face-to-face with Vlad. The mayor grins and winks at him before gently leaning back and crossing his ankles, adopting a lazy and friendly manner.

It works immediately on the other students in class - except our hero of course - as he snaps his mouth closed and turns to glare daggers at Sam, who chose to sit on Tucker's other side. She snorts and waves a few fingers innocently as Tucker rolls his eyes and glares over Danny's shoulder at Vlad. Danny is happy to have at least someone on his side here!

Vlad clears his throat and the room falls silent, he knows how to demand attention without barely doing a thing. Danny hates how much that impresses him every time. _'Evil villain. Only evil villains know how to manipulate people.'_

"Before we begin with the lesson proper, lets go around the circle and have each of you tell me a bit about what you want to do after post-secondary and one way you can get yourself there." He pauses, seeing some anxiety from the faces around him. "No stress, kids. Whatever comes to mind. Take your time and think about it while I go ahead and tell you what I was thinking at your age." He leans forward and stage whispers, "I haven't even told the public this yet so shhh." He winks at Star and Paulina and they visibly melt.

Danny rolls his eyes and leans back, crossing his arms. He's sure he knows the story well enough, going back in time to Vlad's university days will do that, and also of course hearing his parent's talk fondly about their mayor always reveals new little things that would either surprise or disgust Danny.

"So there I was, in front of my high school on the first day, dressed nice, covered in acne and being held upside down by my ankles. I was being emptied of my meager change for lunch and my backpack ransacked and dumped beside me. Ah yes folks, I was a victim of bullying." Vlad's intro definitely had the students' mouths all hanging open. How could such a successful, charismatic gentleman like _Vlad Masters_ ever have been _bullied?_ Its too much for the students to grasp.

Danny stares along with the rest, completely blind-sided by this information. His parents never mentioned this, wait no his parents met Vlad in _University._ Wow, this is new territory even for the young halfa. Maybe Vlad wasn't lying about never-before telling this part of his childhood to the media.

Vlad chuckles, "I am flattered you all look so disbelieving. But believe it. I was unfortunately a favoured victim of my school, what with my classic literature novels I read _for fun_ and my multitude of ghost sighting clippings and research decorating my locker and bedroom." He smiles at the numerous gasps, "Yes I, 14-year-old Vlad Masters, always aspired to be a _ghost chaser."_ His eyes flick to Danny, noticing a few others do the same because really, everyone knows the mayor was friends with Danny's parents. It's kind of hard to miss every election period. Danny sinks in his seat at the attention but remains watching Vlad, too interested to say much of anything yet. "Yes, yes, I'll get to the _Fentons."_ He watches Danny flinch and continues, "At the time there were no ghost _hunters_ because everyone thought their existence was an old wives' tale or a delusion of the insane. I dedicated my spare time inventing ways to not only prove their existence but communicate with them and glean their otherworldly insight on the afterlife and why there are so few of them."

Kwan raises his hand, "But Mr. Masters-"

"-Vlad. Please, I insist everyone be on a first name basis here. We are in a safe space. Also, please introduce yourself as you speak so I may return the favour."

"Kwan, sir - um - Vlad, uh, what do you mean by 'so few of them?' Because, like, there are ghosts showing up _all the time._ They're everywhere!" A lot of other kids nod along, curious as well.

"Yes well, take the world's population into consideration Kwan. How many people do we have in the world _dying_ every minute of every day? As the years go by, think of how every single one of those people should, theoretically, be a ghost and 'showing up' as you put it. Well, where are they? That would be exponential numbers! We shouldn't be able to _look outside_ without laying eyes on at least a handful of ghosts."

All the kids take a curious glance outside and begin speculating with one another. He isn't wrong.

Mr. Lancer pipes up from his desk, hearing the students talk among themselves, _"Call of the Wild_ people, show some respect and _listen._ " He waits for silence and turns to his honoured guest, "Sorry M-Vlad, they easily get carried away."

"No worries Lionel, they are allowed to speculate, I prefer the children to _think_ and not be mere _sheep_ to the system."

The students giggle and point to Mr. Lancers reddening face, many not realizing their teacher even had a first name, let alone it being _Lionel._

Their teacher sputters an apology and returns his attention to his paperwork, muttering about discipline.

Vlad turns back to the class and rolls his eyes, causing some more giggling and a few more students to relax in their seats. Danny realizes he has swiveled in his chair to fully face Vlad and hastily retreats back in his seat. Don't want to appear eager or anything. This story isn't that interesting, right? It's just his enemy's sob story, probably carefully crafted to create sympathizers. Danny huffs and looks away, _'Doesn't_ feel _made up…'_

"So as I was saying, lots of people, billions of people, dying constantly. War, diseases, age, starvation, you name it. Where _is_ everyone? Even now, with ghosts more comfortable showing themselves nearly daily, there isn't _enough_ of them. This was just one of many questions I had hoped I could get an answer for. But first, I needed help. A team. Some people to bounce ideas off of, fellow scientists and ghost enthusiasts. Let me tell you, this was not easy back in my day. Like I said before, no one really believed in them yet. I was a nobody that dreamed about talking to _dead people._ You can imagine the response I gathered."

Vlad pauses, looking to the floor with a wistful expression, lost in his memories. "I threw myself into my studies. Chemistry. Biology. Physics. Math. The more difficult the class, the more I needed to learn it. Or so I believed. I knew knowledge would be the key to my success, my charisma and social status could suffer a little while longer. It was hard work, even harder when my favourite bullies would shred my research or start fires inside my locker with my notebooks." He grimly nods to the shocked silence of his listeners, "Bullies were a little different in the 70's. I must admit I became disheartened for a while. I slowly looked up the records less and less, keeping fewer tabs on ghost sightings, not even reading the newspapers from around the world anymore. I lost the thirst nearly entirely as I completed high school with top marks and no direction in life."

He takes in the sad and uncomfortable looks on the faces around him, "Rest assured everyone, it wasn't all for naught. One summer day I sat with my father in front of our small, _colourless_ television and there, seemingly sent from the heavens above, a news reporter came on and criticized a university in Wisconsin for its _bold new move_ by introducing a Paranormal Degree. The more the man badmouthed the school, the more I _needed_ to know. I turned to my father at the same time that he turned to me and all he said was _'Fuck!'_ … In Russian of course." Vlad smiles at the startled laughing around him. "So, as you can assume, I applied to this school. I worked hard, earning myself two jobs that very same day to help pay for what my scholarships would not cover, and I enrolled myself in that university immediately. I marched myself onto that campus with a renewed fire in my heart. When I found my first classroom I was so enthralled by the various posters and clippings that _weren't my own_ that I walked directly into another student. A rather _large_ student, with an _awful_ sense of style. He took one look at me and my paranormal classwork all over the floor and gripped my hand in the world's most crushing handshake. I'll never forget what he said to me, 'Get over here Mads! We aren't alone anymore!' He then introduced himself as Jack Fenton and the young woman that quickly came to join us as his best friend Madeline DeLisle."

Vlad watches in amusement as every student stares at Danny, flustering the teen to the point he growls out _"What?_ So?"

"Easy Daniel, everyone has a right to be curious." He grins at the flush he causes before speaking louder, "Yes, yes, they are Daniel's parents. But at the time they were the exact thing I needed in my life. We began pooling our research, making leaps and bounds in the very new and very radical field of Paranormal Research. We had unusual dreams and we made sure to follow them, society be damned."

He folds his hands in his lap and looks around at all the faces staring back at him with fascination, "You know the rest of the story through various media outlets so I won't bore you with redundant details. My point to this long-winded trip down memory lane is that you can never be _wrong_ in what interests you. Even when the whole world seemed to be telling me I was crazy I was able to pull through, and so can you. Even the nerdy ghost boy was able to follow his dreams and become a world-renowned success." He scans the eyes of the students, lingering on Danny, "It takes a lot of hard work, and many failures and even more people telling you it's _wrong_ but if you persist, you _will_ succeed."

Vlad eyes the clock on the wall, "Well it seems my life tale didn't take much more than 10 minutes to tell, how sobering." He listens to the snickers and grins, "Alright class, I gave you more than enough time to think about your own choices. Who wants to go first and tell me about themselves, hm? Three things remember: name, a life goal, and one way to get it."

As the class begins to loosen up and share their life dreams and goals, it becomes apparent the students don't really know each other as well as they thought. Four students in, Danny watches Vlad out of the corner of his eye, _'That was kind of cool of him… it felt_ honest, _and that's not normal for him… what is he up to? It's also very weird to see him out of his jacket in public…'_ He immediately berates himself for the path his thoughts led him down and looked to Sam and Tucker, both watching him with amusement.

Tucker shakes his head and Sam smirks with her head leaning on her fist, elbow on her knee. They were very obvious about it all and it made Danny feel even worse. He worries Vlad will notice them and pales, _"Stop."_ He mouths at them, _"Fuck of-"_

Cutting off his suggestion is a thin wisp of blue smoke from between his lips. Both Tucker and Sam widen their eyes, flicking between Danny and Vlad. Danny looks back to Vlad in time to see the man's own ghost sense go off. They narrow their eyes at one another, Danny suspicious and Vlad very slightly shaking his head. Vlad is not behind this and Danny believes him.

Mr. Lancer startles the pair by jumping up, having seen the wisps as well and hurrying to the thermostat. He mutters about budget cuts and students catching pneumonia before apologizing to everyone and retaking his seat.

Danny clears his throat, "May I be excused?"

Vlad nods at him distractedly and returns his attention to the class. Danny knows the man is as concerned as he is about their spectral visitor and deadly curious as to who would be stupid enough to show up with _both_ halfas present. They already are quite the formidable opponents individually, but working together? _'We would be unstoppable together… well not together-together… Ugh'_

Danny pops into the nearest bathroom stall and transforms. He's actually kind of excited for the opportunity to test out his latest ghost power in a real-world situation.

He slides his eyes closed and takes a deep breath. He internally reaches for his core signature. The response is immediate, and his mind's eye is engulfed with his personal white-blue light. He then envisions expanding his sight around him, feeling instead of seeing the many hallways and rooms of the school with himself a bright beacon in the center. Then he releases his breath in a piercing chirp. The octave is high, high enough that Sam and Tucker have difficulty hearing it if they aren't actively waiting for it.

The chirp bursts out of him in a wave, pieces here and there bouncing back and painting a picture of his surroundings for him. The images were muted navy blues on black, barely perceivable, like being out on a moonless night. But the image isn't as important as the spots of light bouncing back at him. Danny uses the chirp as an echolocation to find ghost signatures hidden nearby.

It took him a lot of practice and bribery but today it finally pays off. He notices very near to him a strong deep red beacon from the classroom he just left, _'Why is Vlad red… not important right now.'_ He concentrates elsewhere and sees a fainter aqua-blue core signature moving steadily towards the brilliant red one. Danny tenses, knowing this is the intruder. He hopes it's a friendly one but can't recognize who it is.

* * *

"Be you _beast_ or _lady?_ My god girl, your grip is absolutely _crushing_." Freakshow hisses, glaring at the flaming ponytail in front of him while being dragged through yet another classroom.

Ember sighs dramatically and turns them invisible when she notices this room is in use. She says nothing more and pulls her human companion directly _through_ the teacher, snickering as he sputters and whines. She winks at him and holds a finger to her lips before poking her head through the wall.

She turns back to Freakshow and opens her mouth to report their arrival when suddenly both are being forcibly dragged into the ground and dropped unceremoniously onto the basement floor. Danny floats above them, watching them groan and crosses his arms, waiting.

Ember recovers first, immediately pissy and raises her fists to the offender before noticing _who_ it was.

"Ember? _Freakshow?_ What are you doing _here?_ "

* * *

"Wait, _what?_ When did they get out of jail?"

"Also, I think _'How?'_ is another good question."

Danny just shrugs, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"So what happened then? You came back to class quick enough. Were you maybe a little _eager_ to get back?"

Danny chokes on his mouthful of food, Sam laughing at his struggle while Tucker groans. "Dude as much as I want to keep backing you up on the Vlad thing, you're making it _very difficult._ "

"Wha-! Am not! How?"

"Danny, that class with Vlad had you messed up. You were like, _staring_ dude."

"Well yeah! I'm trying to figure this shit out!" Danny sputtered defensively, "I don't understand why these… feelings _ugh_ are coming up now out of nowhere!"

"Mhmm, and researching every angle of Vlad's face is helping you?"

Danny groans and lays his head on the table, ignoring the heat in his ears and the laughter coming from the two assholes at his table.

"Okay okay, but seriously, what did Ember want and why was she with Freakshow?" Sam brings everyone back on track, still smiling at Danny's expense.

"They seemed to be hanging out, like partners or something. It was weird, I never thought they would work together. I mean, Freakshow's _human_ and I thought he hated ghosts…"

"Yeah no kidding, but we've seen weirder combinations, right?"

"True enough," Danny shrugs, "So anyway, they knew Vlad was going to be at the school today and wanted to spy on him."

"Uh what? _Why?"_ Tucker raises an eyebrow, "He's not that interesting, well today's class was _all kinds_ of interesting but not for other people or ghosts…?"

Danny cringes but doesn't comment, he's tired of being made fun of already and its only lunchtime! "ANYWAYS, I told them to scram and… uh, th-they took my advice."

"What was that? You hesitated." Of _course_ Sam heard his stumble.

"Nothing at all! I didn't hesitate!" _'Shit.'_

Tucker snorts, "You've never been good at lying man, just get it over with and spill."

Sigh. "Uuuugh fiiine. I told them to scram, Vlad can't come out and play because he's too busy tormenting me so they'll have to take a number."

"...Your lame jokes never fail to amuse me."

"Shut it. So then Ember _whistles_ and says to Freakshow, 'Wow, someone sounds jealous. Come on Freak, let's go so Babypop can-'" Danny buries his face in his arms on the table in yet another attempt to hide his misery, "'-so Babypop can _get back to his boyfriend.'"_

Sam and Tucker start laughing again, Tucker patting his back, "Told ya you're being obvious."

"I'm not obvious! There's nothing to be obvious about!"

"Danny _really._ We were _there_ in class. The _whole time."_

 ***ANOTHER FLASHBACK***

Danny returns to class as the last few students finish off listing their aspirations to the mayor. Danny sits down, lifts an eyebrow to Sam and Tucker, giving a small smile to show everything is fine.

Vlad leans ever so slightly in Danny's direction and whispers "Who?"

Danny tries to not notice the small amount of space between them and whispers "Ember. Freakshow?"

Danny watches Vlad's eyes turn red for a split second, so fast a human wouldn't even be able to tell. Danny raises an eyebrow but resists for now, he can't be whispering with Vlad in the middle of class, especially about ghost matters.

Danny sits back in his seat, noticing the pointed looks his friends give to Vlad and him. He flushes and slouches further. Today is just all kinds of awkward, but at least he didn't have to try and conceal a boner. That'd be the icing on the freakin' cake.

Danny stares at his feet, he figured he'd be past awkward high school drama. He's in his final year, ready to graduate and move into the world as an adult and finally contribute to society (as a human). But along comes Vlad and now he's got these pounding headaches and is burning up….

Speaking of which, he has a pretty killer headache now. _'Jeez where'd that come from? And why am I so warm?'_

Danny squeaks (he'll deny it until the day of his full death) at the hand suddenly pressed to his shoulder. It's blazing hot and he whips his head around, fists up and eyes wide looking for an oncoming attack. He sees the hand and his eyes slowly trail up the arm attached to it before landing on its owner. Vlad. Of course.

"Daniel I've been calling on you for almost a full minute now. Where'd you go, young man?"

The class snickers and the teen wishes he could just snap invisible for the rest of his life. "Uhh nowhere. I'm good."

"Yes well, since you've been so unfocused I'm going to volunteer you for next to present."

Danny blinks a few times, trying to remember what has been happening in the class before Ember and Freakshow…

Blank. "Uhh..."

"Really, you've already forgotten." Vlad lounges in his seat lazily, enjoying himself and listening to the class laugh along with him. "Alright so you're going to tell us what you want to do with your life after post-secondary and one way you'll get yourself there. Oh and you have to introduce yourself." Vlad smiles, raising an eyebrow, challenging the teen.

"Pfft. 'Kay, seriously? You've known me literally my whole life. Since when do I need to introduce myself to you?" _'Fruitloop.'_

"Since today. Since everyone else had to do it."

"Why do you care so much?"

"It's only fair, Daniel."

"You literally just proved that you know my name."

"Fuck sakes Danny, just do what he says!" Everyone turns to Valerie, shocked at her outburst. Vlad silently allows it and doesn't break eye contact with Danny.

The teen eventually sighs, rolls his eyes, "Fine! My name is Danny Fent-"

"Stand up please, Daniel. It's only fair." Vlad says quietly, winking to the class.

Danny groans, stands up and starts over, "My name is Dann-"

"Sit down again Daniel, I just wanted to prove how little you paid attention to your classmates today. No one else stood to present."

The class bursts into laughter and Danny feels a blotchy blush climb up his neck, cheeks and ears. He ducks his head and sits down quickly. _'This headache is making it hard to concentrate, and Vlad is a total asshole.'_

He rubs his forehead and grinds out through clenched teeth, "Daniel Fenton. Want to study human physiology and how it reacts or combines with advanced tech in zero-gravity." He sighs and looks up to his peers, "I know I'll never be an astronaut because I just don't physically make the cut, but I still want to work with NASA and possibly help build their equipment and life-sustaining tech. One way I can do that is to work with my parents, I know everyone thinks of them as these total whack-job ghost hunters but they're scientists first and they know their stuff. I plan to apprentice with them over the summer to get a leg up on my studies." He turns to Vlad, "Satisfied?"

Vlad watches him a moment, apparently Danny hasn't told him this yet because he seems surprised. Then he breaks out into a wide smile, eyes dancing dangerously, "Thank you Daniel, I am indeed _satisfied."_

Vlad then tells the class to pull out their English books and Danny immediately hides behind his, hating the elbow to his ribs from Tucker that he ignores, hating Vlad for being so infuriating and hating himself for his mind supplying the double entendre ~with pictures~.

 ***END FLASHBACK***

"Yeah buddy, you're obvious."

"Kill me now? Okay? I'm done now. Put an end to it. I've lived almost 18 years. That's a good long life. Kill my other half, I'll find a nice chunk of rock to call my lair in the Ghost Zone and just stay there. Forever."

Sam snorts, "Sure I'll help you." She checks the cafeteria clock, "We have gym in 2 minutes, how about I go tell coach Tetslaff that you guys feel you don't need gym anymore, that you're in perfect health?"

The boys pause a beat, watching Sam get up and collect her lunch bag. They look to each other in horror before quickly grabbing their things and peeling after her.

"NO! Wait!"

"Sam _no!_ Please!"

"I didn't mean it, Sam!"

"Nonononono!"


	5. Chapter 5

(Don't) Say My Name - CHAPTER 5

* * *

Danny Fenton floats just above the roof of the Ops Center of his home, Fenton Works, in Phantom form. He's resting a few inches above the surface, arms behind his head and one leg crossed – the picture of ease.

But he is not as ease.

Over the years Danny has learned that running from his problems and anxieties does nothing for him but prolong his suffering. So here he is, meditating, picking apart his emotions and thoughts, going through his usual exercises of one item at a time. Normally this would calm him down, present an answer or some sort of reassurance.

Unfortunately, today does not reveal a magical resolution. This isn't a morality issue, or an honour issue or even a balancing of both lives issue. It's just a Vlad issue. And he can't make heads or tails of it.

He knows in his heart that Vlad isn't an _evil_ person, as Tucker so eloquently puts it. He's been handed tough cards in life and with tougher odds. Danny may not agree with the way Vlad chose to deal with things, but he can't imagine being in the same position and coming out the same person either.

However, that does not exempt him from his misdoings in the present. He is a full-grown man with access to the internet and written works. Actually, he has more access than others, power that lets him see into the lives of others and even ask the dead for the truth and their thoughts on certain events. So when he reads about heroes and heroines, or underdogs and maniacal villains, how can he continue to choose to hurt others? What drives him to such selfishness?

Danny hums and melds his legs together into a spectral tail, flicking it lazily in wide arcs. He can't seem to understand Vlad, but then again, he hasn't really seen too much of him in the past couple years. Sure, he stops in for family dinners every couple weeks and Danny sees him around town or on TV, but they don't really talk much. Vlad hasn't even made any shitty rules to cause Danny and his friends' grief, he's just been… existing. Sam assumes he's biding his time, waiting for the teens to drop their guard.

Little do Sam and Tucker know but Danny dropped his guard long ago. It happened not long after he went into the past to view his dad's collage days when the portal was created. He saw a young Vlad full of hope and wonder and excitement. He was filled with life. And yes, while Danny and Vlad may be half dead, the Vlad of today seems to be more dead inside than his ally. Danny wonders why that is, considering he got a more concentrated shot from the Ghost Zone. Perhaps Vlad faced such heartbreak at the hands of Danny's parents that it broke him? These thoughts lead the teen to feel a hard pang in the chest. His parents have always been a little blind to the people around them. As smart as they are, their social skills suck ass. He wishes he could apologize for their actions but knows it'll not only fall on deaf ears but do nothing to soothe years of hurt.

Danny sighs. So, Vlad isn't exactly evil. Take that Tucker.

What about that infatuation with his mom? What happened to that? Vlad doesn't really attack often, but when he does he usually spouts his plans all proud-like in typical cocky-villain-style. Somehow it always makes Danny happy to know that the older halfa hasn't changed in his ways. It's kind of endearing in a totally platonic way. A familiar way. _'It's also very helpful too,'_ he thinks. But the plans he lays out don't include Maddie anymore. When did that stop? Danny doesn't remember. Did he give up on her? If so then what's his motive? Danny wonders if the supercomputer in Vlad's secret lab still has a Maddie AI. That would be very telling. He has half a mind to go and check. But that would involve a long flight and willfully going to the man's home. Something which causes Danny pause in light of recent events.

Recent events causing Danny his worst anxiety yet. He internally groans and forces his mind into the thick of it. _'I like Vlad?'_ He cringes. Where the hell did this come from? There have been many fights, mini-truces, and normal evenings with the family that have revealed no attraction to the man. So why _now?_ Vlad didn't even do anything recently to cause admiration from Danny, or anything else that could explain sudden feelings.

But the _feelings_ are the weirdest part. He feels he can see Vlad exactly as before this whole mess. _Exactly_ the same as before, but now suddenly he gets excited when Vlad talks to him? This isn't a normal crush. Don't crushes mean you wear rose-coloured glasses and the item of your affection can do no wrong? Danny wonders where his rose-coloured glasses are.

Maybe it's lust?

He cringes at the idea but it makes more sense. It would explain a sexual response without any proper feelings attached. Danny sits up, _'Holy shit, that's it! I'm lusting for him!'_ He flops back down again, covering his eyes with an arm, _'Somehow that seems way worse. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why couldn't it be someone else? Liiiiiiike, I don't know, literally anyone else at school. Even a fucking teacher would be better than Vlad.'_ But oddly enough, the lust thing makes him feel better. It takes the pressure off for making up excuses why he would 'like' Vlad. He doesn't. It's just physical.

Still embarrassing. But at least now his thoughts are in order. Danny can move forward with this. Basically, this just means he should avoid Vlad for a while and try to quickly find himself somebody to date, maybe even finally get laid, and take his mind off the other halfa.

Barely a second after that thought completes himself, he is presented with a puff of pink followed quickly by his ghost sense. From the fading luminescence floats the very object of Danny's thoughts.

Danny sighs, laughing to himself as he falls back onto his back. This definitely isn't the reaction Vlad expected and stares, "…Everything alright Daniel?"

Danny just lifts a thumbs up, but remains staring up at the stars. He folds his hands on his stomach and waits for his visitor to do or ask what he came here for.

Suddenly Vlad's head looms over him from above, curiosity all over his face. "You seem… relaxed." He starts cautiously, still very put off.

Danny chuckles, "I was just meditating. It happens."

"Hmm. And you aren't afraid I'll attack you?" He seems weirded out, Danny finds this thought amusing.

"Why do you want to control everything? Why do you always pick the worst of two options?"

A pause. "Is control the worst option?"

"No. Sorry I meant those as two separate thoughts. If you had a chance to help or to hurt someone, why do you usually go for the hurt?"

"We are going to do this right now? Alright, I'll make myself comfortable." Vlad sits down on the air beside Danny, a few inches above the Ops Center (the ghost alarm system would activate otherwise) and crosses his legs. He leans back on his hands and stares up at the stars as well. "I don't necessarily _choose_ to hurt people over helping them. I choose to help myself and sometimes it hurts people."

Danny hums, "What if you _know_ it'll hurt someone else. Do you do it anyway?"

"Yes. Usually." He doesn't hesitate and Danny respects that, no matter how disappointing the answer. Vlad takes in the teen's silence and sighs, "I know it sounds bad. I won't pretend I'm ignorant to social standard. I just… I'm just… I'm tired of _losing,_ Daniel." He looks down at his lap and leans forward, twisting his fingers absently. "I was always losing. I lost my desire to ghost hunt in high school, sure I got it back for a short time but I lost it again when I _became one._ " He growls out the last and Danny looks to him with interest.

Vlad is being real with him, this is new. He stays silent, ignoring the incoming headache and hoping the man will continue. He's been getting a lot of headaches lately.

"I then lost my humanity. I lost my best friends - my only friends. I even lost my first crush. I lost my school, my degree, my home, my father. In one simple moment I lost control of _everything."_ Vlad's voice wavers, he clears it and whispers out, "I will never lose control of my life again."

Danny digests this, watching Vlad attempt to compose himself. _'Well shit, I have no idea how to handle this.'_ He thinks back to how this conversation started. "And what about choosing the worst of two options? When we fight each other or when ghosts gang up on us and we truce for a bit, there's always some sort of decision we make to change the battle. You _always_ pick the bad choice."

"It's the best choice for me."

"It can't _always_ be the best choice."

"No, it doesn't always work out but at the time it seems the best idea."

"For you."

"Yes Daniel, for _me._ I told you I was tired of losing. I make sure I always get what I want now. I tried caring about others and they left me behind. So now I look out for me and I'm _happy!"_

"Sure, 'happy'…" Danny rubs his head and frowns, its hard to have an impromptu heart-to-heart with Vlad when he causes such mixed feelings in his body. "You only tried once."

"…What?" Vlad sounds dangerously close to ending this little friendly chat.

Danny holds his hands up in surrender, "You said it at school today, you had no friends growing up. So when you finally got friends they became your world. You worked with them, studied with them, hung out with them. Loved one of them. So when they eventually rejected you, you just gave up. You didn't try again. The one time you get friends and have a crush, and the one time it doesn't work out, you get depressed and shut down."

"Daniel, I don't think you quite understand what I-" Yup, he's pissed, he's standing up.

"No hang on a sec. I'm just telling you what it looks like to me. I get that you were hurt. I get that it broke you. _I get it._ You got a taste of what you always wanted and then it was ripped away. Of _course_ you got pissed and of _course_ your heart broke." Danny stands too, "But what I don't get is how you just shut yourself down after that. You were so smart Vlad, and still are. Why are you still so afraid of being close to people? Because you can't _control_ them?" Danny laughs humourlessly, "Well what's the point then, hm? Friends keep fresh ideas and perspectives. Different backgrounds and upbringings with common goals or interests. It should be exciting! You don't want to _expect_ everything they say!"

Vlad crosses his arms and looks away, "Well some people have an easier time than others…"

They stare off in different directions, lost in their own minds. Danny does his best to understand Vlad's point of view, he really does. It's just so depressing.

"You're being incredibly honest tonight, Daniel."

"Well 'honesty begets honesty' as Lancer always says."

"Is this you trying to ... befriend me?" The hope in those red eyes is makes his heart clench.

"We never had a chance to be friends. You made sure of that." Vlad looks away, ashamed. Danny presses on, "But maybe If you opened up a bit, I might too?"

"Hmm I see." Vlad is disappointed, it's not the same thing. He's wondering why he even let his hopes rise.

"I never said it wouldn't lead to 'befriending you'."

Vlad freezes. He whips his head back around at stares at Danny with hope again. He would offer a second-chance? Danny is the only one in the world who GETS it. This would be wonderful. This would be exhilarating. This would... be the work of the spell. _'How bittersweet. Now that he comes around, I can't trust that his feelings are genuine.'_

Danny sees the light die and the suspicion grow and sighs, "I know it'll be hard for you at first but talking to someone always helps me make sense of things and steer me in the right direction - whichever direction you choose."

"What, you aren't going to force the 'evil fruitloop' to bend to your righteous ways?"

"No, I don't want to force you to do anything. Then it wouldn't come from the heart. If you stay bitter then so be it, we can go back to fighting and whatever. But if you find you're liking the whole light side," he grins, "then maybe we could, I don't know, be more like this." He waves his hand between them "honest."

"Honest." Vlad echoes, "I would like that, Daniel."

Danny rubs his eyes but agrees along with him. Vlad notices the action and blushes, knowing if he pushes it too far, he'll get a whole new level of honesty from Danny. Now his mind supplies him with previous distracting material but with electric green eyes instead. He feels his ears burn and turns away. Just a few names here and there, nothing too adventurous.

Obviously, the spell is working if they are having such a civil conversation already. Imagine if he kept this up! They could be f-friends! Wouldn't that be something! Of course, it'd help him in not wanting to fight Vlad on his latest plots too... but now the possible friendship sounds too appealing to really concentrate on all the plotting. Imagining having someone there, let alone UNDERSTANDING being a halfa... Having _secrets;_ secret identity, secret strengths, secret powers... access to all that is the GHOST ZONE. Hell, the bonuses are endless!

They float in silence for a bit, each thinking about the pros and cons of being friends. Neither finding many cons.

"Daniel," he starts gently, "Ember and Freakshow... did they say anything?"

Danny grunts, lays sideways in the air, leaning on his elbow to regard Vlad's back thoughtfully. His eyes watch the cape flutter in slow motion. "Mhmm, something about spying on you actually. Any idea why?"

Vlad flinches "Oh, ah no. I haven't the faintest idea."

"Really." Danny says dryly. "Then why did they know you'd be at my school?"

"Well my plans weren't a huge secret Daniel, someone must have let it slip and someone who heard passed it along and so on until it got to one of them."

"Riiight. You wanna know what I think? While we're being HONEST here?"

Vlad cringes but turns around to see Danny's facial expression.

"I think you're full of shit." Danny is right in Vlad's face. "You wanna start something more than a truce here?" He gestures between the two of them, "You can't say you'd like to try honesty and then lie right after." He huffs and crosses his arms. "Try again or leave."

Vlad stares at Danny for a moment, seeing the intense green eyes hardened and expectant, body close, face closer. It's not quite the same expression or eye colour in his little fantasies from yesterday but it is very easy to replace that and get distracted.

How can he tell this young man he hired professionals to tamper with his mind so that he might feel affection every time Vlad utters his name? So he can gather his trust forcibly. How can he say all that and then let Danny think back to just how _many_ times he's said his name? How he's pushed him. How he's AFFECTED him. Pathetic. Danny's understanding but he won't be THAT understanding. This is a very fragile truce now as it is. He can't risk it.

He steps back from Danny, "I can't," and summons his teleportation power.

Danny stands there, suddenly alone as Vlad's pink essence swirls around.

He blinks back his disappointment, looks down and growls out, "Coward," he accuses the lingering mists.

The teen decides he's had enough emotional bullshit for one night and floats down to his room to get ready for bed.

* * *

Vald flinches from the word, he feels it whisper through his teleportation with him.

" _Coward."_

It singes his soul. He hears the disappointment, he feels it in himself, he hears the accusation, he agrees with it.

 _'But there was no other way!'_ Vlad thinks desperately, _'He'd never have been civil with me otherwise!'_

He stares at himself in his bedroom mirror. _'We could never have achieved this without the spell.'_

He watches his red eyes turn blue and black hair fall into his usual gray ponytail.

 _'Right?'_


	6. Chapter 6

(Don't) Say My Name - CHAPTER 6

* * *

"Maybe I'll have a sick day…" A quiet mumble comes from under the covers.

Danny groans and reluctantly pulls himself out of bed, "Ha. Ha. Must be nice for everyone _else_ to fake sick…" he pulls his legs through a fresh pair of boxers and jeans, grumbling miserably, "Stupid scientist parents… had to be _scientists,_ couldn't be shoe-makers or some _shit…"_

Last time he tried to fake sick, Danny let his ice core bleed out onto his skin to give him 'chills.' Danny's parents just gave him an ugly, bulky sweater to wear, injected his arm with _something_ and sent him on his way _._ _"The chills aren't quite a cold yet dear, just a warning that it's coming! You can still learn before the cold starts, in case this shot doesn't do it for you."_

Plus it's kind of hard for him to fake an illness when his immune system is so much stronger now with him being a ghost.

Plus-Plus, he's apparently a _really bad_ liar. He's trying, okay?

Plus-Plus-Plus, His parents would run tests on him and he couldn't have them looking in on his ghostly DNA.

In the end it just isn't worth the day off (and it's not like the ghosts would stop harassing Amity just because he's off his game).

"Could've even been _dentists_ … or fucking mall security…" he pulls out a shirt and hoodie, slipping them over his head. It briefly muffles his string of obscenities, "or cooks… or… or um, mail sorters… _fuck!"_

Danny Fenton, evidently, is not in a good mood today.

* * *

"Should I call in sick?" Vlad paces his study, house slippers moving noiselessly along the carpet, "No. No, he would know right away, seeing as we apparently have the same immune system…" Vlad frowns and passes his desk again, "I could say I have an important meeting? Ah that won't work, he's not stupid…" Vlad turns and crosses the room again, "I could - Oh _peanut brittle!_ I can't keep fooling myself! I'm not 'giving him space,' I'm merely nervous to face him…" Vlad sighs.

"Since when has a plan ever made me nervous or doubtful? Bah! He was standing in my way and the spell was the best way to get rid of him." He reminds himself, straightening his shoulders, "Or at least, I'm doing my best to get him to step aside."

He thinks back to their conversation the previous night, "Okay, I will _try_ to help myself without hurting someone first, but if it ends up causing me more grief than it's worth… well, there's always Plan B." He nods to himself in the mirror, fixes his tie and smoothes out his already perfect hair.

He does his absolute best to not think about all that potential being wasted in Plan B.

* * *

"Good morning everyone! Please pull out your homework that was due yesterday. I'd like to hear how you all felt about ahh, where's my notes... here! Chapters 11 and 12. Ah Frankenstein, what a great read! Any volunteers?"

Vlad Masters sits comfortably on an empty desk front row and centre, facing the class. His jacket is off again and a teacher's book poised delicately in his hands.

Sam and Tucker keep nudging Danny, at first out of amusement but now out of concern for their catatonic friend. "Danny?"

Apparently, he missed the part when Lancer said Vlad would be there all week.

"Uh _Danny?"_

He was really hoping things could go back to normal and he could forget the whole Vlad-fiasco.

"Danny, what the hell? Snap out of it!" Sam throws a bat-shaped eraser at his head. It bounces off with no impact whatsoever.

He should know better than to hope _anything_ at this point in his life.

"I know you think he's pretty and all but you shouldn't act like this in public." Tucker stage-whispers, "Save your earth-shattering confessions for behind the bleachers like all the rest of the star-crossed lovers."

At the front Vlad suddenly chokes on his next few words, doing his best to hide his shock and amusement. Danny notices it (since he's been staring), is quite intimate with how good ghost hearing is and realizes what Tucker has just put into Vlad's head. _'Shiiit.'_

He glares at Tucker, eyes green with murderous intent, and pulls his books out without breaking eye contact. Tucker sweats.

Sam snickers at Tucker, patting him on the back in sympathy. Having been on the receiving end of a few 'scary eyes' looks herself, she is well aware just how much Tucker is shitting his pants right now.

"S-sorry dude. Ahh, but you're back! Th-that's good!"

Danny growls and points to his ear, "Really good hearing, _remember?"_

It takes a long moment but both friends finally click with what the fuck Danny means by that. Their cheeks puff out and faces turn slightly red, doing their damnedest to not burst out laughing at Danny in all his furious embarrassment as Vlad hears all about his little crush. Oh, this was too fucking _good!_

"Oh for f- stop! It's not _like that!"_

Sam snorts, "Well if it weren't like that then you wouldn't care so much, right?"

"Don't you _dare_ channel Jazz right now, we are in English, not Psychology." He furiously whispers back.

"Just sayin'... you're a little wound up Danny, got any pent-up aggression you need to work on?" She teases.

Danny, utilizing a massive amount of self-restraint, rolls his eyes and faces forward. Almost afraid to look but needing to know if he heard, he looks to their impromptu teacher's assistant.

Yep. He heard. Vlad's face is bright red and he's doing his very best to NOT make eye contact right now. _'Wonder what's up with him, shouldn't he be_ enjoying _my misery? Or are teenage hormones where idiot villains draw the line?'_

Little does he know just how accurate his thoughts are. Vlad, thanks to dinner the other night, now knows what _exactly_ he's been doing to the poor teen this past week, and is slightly uncomfortable.

Slightly.

So _slightly_ he's impersonating a tomato and doing his best to not wonder along the lines of Danny 'relieving pent-up aggression.' And, well, since Vlad has been the cause of the all the teen's ... ah, _stress_... it's only natural that his thoughts would be _about_ Vlad, right?

Unfortunately, at that moment his mind helpfully supplies a very creative auditory example of a breathy, quiet moan coming from behind a shower curtain: _"Vlaaad~"_ He feels all the blood in his face rush to his cheeks, _'Dear God,_ NO! _I'm in a_ classroom, _for goodness - ah don't make eye contact! Get it together, Vladimir! You can't be thinking like that! Class only just started…'_ He internally frets and externally starts the classroom discussion.

The class progresses normally, the students take turns talking about their weekend homework assignment. Everyone seems pretty ecstatic for the extra day Vlad caused them by having his little meet-and-greet take up the whole period the day before. An extra day for homework has them all uncharacteristically prepared to share. Mr. Lancer beams with pride from his desk, already formulating a new pop-quiz for the students.

Vlad recovers from his thoughts quickly; he's an influential leader in science and commerce for more than just ghost powers. He can put up a fake smile any time necessary. Vlad prides himself in his ability to set aside any scenario and act as required of him within a moment's notice. He takes bad news with grace, good news with humility, and he appeals to the people in a way that won't require any overshadowing for subsequent elections.

Not all superpowers are ghost-related, after all.

But nothing, _nothing_ at all, could have prepared him for 08:04 am that Tuesday morning, _in a room full of students_ , for a simple, quiet question to come from the back of the classroom. That's when all hell broke loose.

"Mr. Masters, may I go use the bathroom?"

Considering both their ghost senses had just gone off, the request didn't come as much of a surprise. But Vlad has pretenses to keep up and an ego that relishes a chance to lord it over his favourite rival.

"Come now Daniel, is it so hard to drop the formalities?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously, Daniel."

"Oh my _God,_ why do you care so much about everyone playing along with your stupid game?" He rubs the bridge of his nose, already feeling the familiar headache start up again.

 _"Daniel Fenton!_ You WILL contain your _ridiculous_ amount of sass and do as-"

"Now now, Lionel," Vlad cuts the tirade off with an amused wave, smirking cooly at the teen, "You can't blame the boy for being a little _intimidated_ in my presence. But in all seriousness Daniel, it's okay to set social standing aside and treat me as an _equal._ In fact, I _insist_ on it. If that helps you at all."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..." he grumbles quietly to his friends, knowing Vlad can hear it but not giving a damn. _'Id love to wipe that stupid smug look off his face with the heel of my shoe.'_ Danny stares the man down, ignoring the muffled snickers all around him and even from the two traitors at his side. _'How could I ever let myself think I liked him? Jesus Christ, what is_ wrong _with me?'_

"Alright _fine_ ," he stands, "whatever. Can I please go use the bathroom, _Vlad?"_

Huffing in exasperation, he closes his bookbag and pockets his phone. Expecting a positive response but not receiving anything.

"..."

The silence causes him to look up, irritated. Does he have permission or not? He's knows there's a ghost so... ?

But he catches Vlad looking at him in panic. Like full on PANIC. His stubborn, impervious cool is _shattered._ His mouth is slightly open in protest, eyebrows gone up to kiss his hairline and body completely frozen. It might have been comical if not totally terrifying for Danny.

What do you do when your totally unflappable, unmovable, does-everything-on-purpose enemy that shares _a pretty crazy secret with you_ is suddenly very much _glitching out_ in public?

Quick reflexes and quicker thinking have Danny already in motion to create a distraction.

He steps away from his seat, hooks his leg around Tucker's chair and 'trips' to the ground.

The momentum tugs Tucker along for the short ride as he suddenly gets flung backwards. Danny sees his friend's wrist is going to break on impact and latches on to it, passing it harmlessly _through_ the floor. He quickly releases when they land.

"Whaa- oomf! What the _fuck_ Danny?!"

"Jesus Tuck, why would you trip me like that? You _trying_ to get us in trouble?"

"Say _what?_ Your dumb ass just tripped all by yourself and now you're blaming _me?"_ Tucker gets up and dusts himself off, "Listen here _friend,_ you better apologize, or you and I are gonna have a problem." He flicks his eyes to the front and then tuns to face Danny fully. Ah yes, Tucker has become a quick learner over the years too.

"Guys GUYS! _Relax!_ This is obviously a simple misunderstanding. No one wants to see you two fight over something as dumb as this, _right?"_ Welcome to the party Sam...

Sam's question has everyone's attention safely on the trio in the back of the classroom. After hearing Dash call out "Nerd fight!" Mr. Lancer magically appears between the two 'affronted' teenagers, uttering threats if they choose to embarrass him in front of their honoured guest. The boys roll their eyes and "make up" by shaking hands - much to the rest of the students' disappointment.

The entire display doesn't take longer than a couple of minutes but Danny can tell it was enough for Vlad to reign in whatever the fuck was going on with him. Danny winks at him before being ushered out by the Vice Principle, being warned that if he tries to start anymore fights while in the bathroom then he will get detention for the rest of the semester.

Finally locking himself away in a stall, he reaches for his transformation.

"I shouldn't have to do this anymore, the school is a neutral zone now…" Grumbling, he chirps quickly and pinpoints a now familiar aqua-blue dot next door to his classroom.

* * *

"Heya Babypop! What can we do ya for?" Ember drawls, lounging on a science lab desk.

Freakshow jumps at being caught unawares and spins to point an accusing finger at the white-haired halfa. "How do you keep _doing_ that?"

"Uh, doing what?"

"You find us so quickly, how are you able to notice whenever we come near?"

Danny pauses, confused, "What? Isn't it obvious?"

Ember sits up to swing her legs over the side of the desk, "Actually that _is_ kind of annoying. I never asked you before I got locked up. But yeah, how do you always know?"

Danny just stares at her. "What? You don't have a ghost sense?"

"A _what?"_

"… A ghost sense? Mine goes off every time a ghost comes near…"

"Huh." Ember grunts thoughtfully, "Nope, don't have one of those. Sounds kinda like a spidey-sense! Haha!"

"Um, what exactly is 'spidey-sense?'" Freakshow butts in.

Ember slaps a palm to her forehead, "Oh yeah! I forgot for a moment that you're no fun!"

"Excuse _you!"_ Freakshow squawks, offended at the declaration, "I am VERY fun! Thank you very much!"

"Riiight, I'm SO convinced now. Anywho, _Danny,_ this has been exciting but you're ruining our mission."

He crosses his arms, weirded out by the strange familiarity between the two, "You mean spying on Vlad again?"

"Yes that. It's a promising show that we don't want to miss."

"Why is he suddenly so interesting?" He thinks of the weird behaviour Vlad displayed only moments ago, "What's wrong with him?"

"What _isn't?"_ Both laugh and high five each other.

Danny gestures between the two, "And since when do _you_ guys hang out? It's super weird. Like, I get that you're both performers and all but aren't you," he points at Freakshow, "a little _manipulative_ of ghosts and you," he points at Ember, "against _sharing_ the limelight?"

"We have been 'hanging out' only recently but so far have been enjoying our newfound comradery immensely."

"Yeah, _Dipstick._ Besides, people can change ya know? We just spent a long time locked away and now that we're out again maybe we wanna do things differently."

"Exactly my thoughts, Ember dear. Isn't that what incarceration is all about? Rehabilitation and second-chances?"

"Huh… Look this is nice and all but can we catch up another time? I have to get back to class. _Without you._ You do realize you're not supposed to _be_ here righ - oh shit! You _just_ said you were locked up, so you _wouldn't_ know…" Danny slaps a hand to his forehead, "Yeahhh so long-story-short: I made a deal with everyone at last year's Christmas Truce party to leave the school as a 'neutral zone.' No one attacks here so I can focus on my grades and I won't immediately suck you up in a thermos on site if you're actually behaving." He looks at Freakshow, "I know you aren't a ghost and not under obligation of the truce but it's still weird for you to be here, ghostly accomplice or not." He gestures to Ember. "Most people here are under-age and you aren't related to anyone who goes here soooo... ya know, awkward?"

"All of that makes sense, absolutely. We will be on our way then, wouldn't want to add to your _distractions_ today, hmm ghost boy?"

"And what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Well, you did seem pretty distracted studying _Dracula_ in class…"

"Uhh what? We're studying Frankenstein, Bram Stoker was last year."

"Could've fooled me! You seem wayyy more interested in Vla-sorry- _Dracula_." Ember winks playfully.

"… I'm not gonna dignify that with a response. Also, I _really_ gotta get back to class. Please leave. Don't start shit here, the other ghosts are allowed to hunt you for breaking the truce if you do. The school is off limits now, so, ya. Um… bye?"

Ember laughs and grabs Freakshow's arm, both smiling knowingly and sink into the floor. Dany breathes a sigh of relief and heads back to his stall to transform again. He wonders briefly if he should send out one last chirp, just to be sure they actually _left_ the school grounds. But Lancer chose that moment to knock impatiently on the bathroom door and Danny hurries to heed the summons.

Had he checked, he would have noticed Ember stuck close so as not to set off another 'ghost sense' from the teen. She drags Freakshow over to a far corner in the classroom and they settle in for the show…

* * *

Danny returns to class, irritated beyond all measure. He stalks in and shoots a poisonous look at Vlad as he moves to his spot in the back of the classroom. He ignores Vlad's carefully nonplussed eyebrow he gets in return and flops down next to his friends.

"So? Who was it this time?"

Danny watches his teacher's 'honoured guest,' knowing if he talks to Tucker and Sam about anything that Vlad will hear it all. _'Maybe I can use that to my advantage.'_ He thinks, _'This will force Vlad to hear my side of things without us cutting each other off or getting pissy…"_

"Ember and Freakshow, _again."_

Yep, that got his attention. Vlad and Danny lock eyes for a moment, Danny challenging him to shush them. Vlad turns away from him with a defeated expression.

' _Huh, that's new.'_

"What did they want?" Sam presses.

"Same as yesterday, to spy on Vlad." That seems to cause the slightest jerk from the man, Danny knows it's too small a motion for his human friends to notice.

Tucker sighs, "I wish he would've told you last night what this is all about."

A quick flash of blue shows Vlad is a bit surprised to know his friends are already up to speed. _'Yeah, comes with the territory of being one of the good guys, there's nothing sketchy to hide from your friends.'_ Danny sighs as well, "Me too. I felt like we were so close to taking a step in the right direction."

"You honestly think he'd go 'good guy' so quick?"

Vlad calls on Valerie to share her thoughts on the assignment. He can make multiple clones, he's used to splitting his attention.

"Honestly, no I don't." Danny's whisper earns him three pairs of curious eyes. He hastens to explain, "Look guys, it's basically second nature for him now. Vlad's been doing selfish shit for as many years as we are old, give or take a few." He can't help the jab, no matter how creepy it makes his newfound 'lust.' _Ugh._ "And I can't expect him to change over night. It would take time, and a lot of trust. But if we were to truce then that means we could help each other. If Vlad needs a nudge in the right direction and a little encouragement, then I'd be right there to do it."

His friends digest this, Tucker finally says, "And that's super nice and all Danny, real 'kumbaya' of you, but what would YOU get out of this?"

"Tucker's got a point. You seem awfully willing to set aside all the horrible shit he's done to not just you, but literally _everyone here_ and give him a chance to redeem himself. That's very big of you and we're all very impressed, but tell me you'd get more out of this than just some self-satisfied hero-complex stimulant."

"Wow Sam, I didn't realize you thought of me that way." He acts wounded, hiding his grin.

"Oh shut up, its nothing new."

Danny pauses, pretending to listen to Dash horribly explain his understanding of Dr. Frankenstein's emotional turmoil in Chapter 12. "Well, I'm a little embarrassed to admit it buuut" he rubs his neck sheepishly (It's a habit he can't break. So he wears his emotions on his sleeve, sue him), "I _have_ been thinking that letting Vlad teach me about our powers and halfa history would be pretty cool, and a smart move… There's still so much I don't know and every time I ask any of the full ghosts about halfas, no one seems to know or care. But like, _guys!_ There's absolutely _no way_ we are the first and only halfas in _existence."_ He looks to his friends passionately, "You cannot tell me we are the only to people to _ever_ be partially-killed by ectoplasmic blasts or flair-ups!"

"Shh, you're getting that look in your eye. Save it for when we don't have to whisper." Tucker grins, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Sorry, right. But yeah, I would want knowledge from Vlad. Ghost powers _and_ halfa knowledge."

Danny flicks his gaze to the front, shocked to see traces of a hot flush on the man's skin. _'Why is he sweating so bad? I thought he'd be excited to finally convince me to 'apprentice' with him. Seems like he prefers his lies and plots above all else…'_ As much as it doesn't surprise him, the thought certainly is sobering. _'Is it that hard to be honest with me? Is he really so against it?'_ He catches the man's eye and notices the flinch. Danny feels his heart clench in disappointment. The more he thinks of the truce, the more he wants it.

"You sure you don't just want this because you'd get to be closer to Hunky Uncy Vlaad?"

Danny feels his eye twitch and slowly turns to his treacherous friend. Sam is the offender this time, she must be masochistic.

"Don't. Call. Him. That. Ever. Again. _Samantha."_ Her hackles raise in response to her trigger word.

"Oooooooh youche!" Tucker nervously chuckles, looking between the two and wishing he hadn't chosen the middle seat today. "Um guys? Remember I'm still here, right?" He closes his eyes, "Please don't fight, Mom and Dad…"

That got their attention. Sam rolls her eyes in exasperation and Danny huffs in amusement.

"It's just 'Vlad.' Nothing else. 'Vlad.' Got it?" He stresses slowly and clearly.

Sam backs down when she sees how deadly serious his body language is. "Got it."

"Jeez, you're so protective of him now." Tucker grins and flutters his eyelashes at him, _"How sweet."_

Realizing he isn't going to intimidate them out of teasing him, Danny chooses to just cross his arms and lean back in his seat, "You are both _still_ too loud."

"Uh, yeah. We know."

All three flick their eyes to Vlad, the man seeming very uncomfortable in his seat. No longer the picture of ease, he is bent forward, hair obscuring some of his face but not enough to hide the blush he is obviously losing the battle to. He keeps half-heartedly answering homework questions but contributes less and less to the discussion on a whole.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Tucker whispers conversationally.

"Honestly I haven't got a clue but he better get it together before someone else notices. I can't pull another distraction like that in class or I'll get detention for the rest of the semester."

"Lancer?"

"Lancer."

They lapse in silence for another few minutes before Sam breaks it again, "So he can hear everything we're saying?"

"Yep."

"And he knows that we know everything."

"He does now."

"And he also knows I demand to chaperone your first date, right?"

Danny chokes on his next breath and Vlad coughs, suddenly fascinated by the light fixtures.

"Oh my _god_ this is too funny!" Sam tries to hide her laugh behind her hand.

"He's not denying anything…"

"Duh, he can't Tuck. It'd be too suspicious."

"Well he could tell us to stop whispering in class." Tucker points out.

"Nah, I think he's either too interested in hearing us embarrass Danny or he's actually letting us tell him what we think without interfering."

"Trying to be good?"

Sam thinks about it for a moment, "You're right, that's not his style. He _definitely_ wants to hear more about us embarrassing Danny."

"Guys… _really…"_ Danny lets out a strangled whine from somewhere buried underneath his arms. He's not even trying to be subtle, he's just face-down on the desk, hiding from the world.

"Danny, be less obvious buddy." Tucker pats his back oh-so-helpfully. "Ok, so here's the facts as I understand them: you want a truce, Vlad - apparently – wants one too. In exchange we don't really know what Vlad wants – suspicious. _You_ want honesty about his thoughts and plotting – I'm assuming so you can help steer him in the right direction – and you are willing to set aside your differences in the past to work with him on a common goal aka apprentice training and halfa knowledge. Bonus for him. And the main pivotal point that's stopping all this is because he won't tell you one embarrassing secret?"

"Mhm, yeah – wait what? _Embarrassing?_ What makes you say that?"

"Well when has Vlad ever been _shy_ about revealing his plans?"

Sam snorts, "Never. I wish he was _more_ shy sometimes."

Danny smiles and nods to Tucker to get to the point.

"Well, if he's so hell-bent on _not_ telling this time, _especially_ now that you're willing to give him a totally undeserved chance, then it has _got_ to be embarrassing. Either he's ashamed or scared of what you'll think." He looks up at Vlad and the other two follow his gaze, "Am I right or am I right?"

"Right, very good." Vlad suddenly cuts off Star, pretending to praise her insight but cautiously flicking his eyes to Tucker and Sam. He avoids Danny entirely.

Tucker basks in his rightness as Danny and Sam mull it over.

"Wow, shame, huh? I didn't think he was capable of that." Sam muses.

"Alright seriously, cut that out. Vlad's a person just as much as I am. And everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves." He thinks about Ember and Freakshow, "If you make an honest effort then that's the most important thing."

"Yes, true. But _if_ he had an ounce of humility, he would just suck it up and tell you the truth. He gets more out of a truce with you anyway. Then you guys can finally move on and be all buddy-buddy like you so badly want."

"Ugh, _stop._ I refuse to beg for a truce. If he doesn't want it then I can't force him. This isn't just some rhetorical question guys, it's a very serious thing. It means we would have to trust the other in honouring their side of the deal. And if he is forced into it then I can't trust him, which ruins the whole point." He sighs and stares at his hands morosely, "Not everyone wants to be friends with us and that's alright. Some things just aren't meant to be, I guess."

Sam and Tucker share a look.

Sam can't stand this side of their friend, "Look, a pity-party isn't gonna do anyone any favours. You're already writing him off without letting him defend himself. And - I can't believe I'm saying this but - don't give up on Vlad just yet."

"You're right, I can't believe you're saying that."

"Sam… dude, have you been _overshadowed?"_ Tuckers asks fearfully, waving a hand in front of her face.

She smiles and grabs the offensive appendage, pushing it into the desk with bruising force. Tucker winces, "N-nope! That's the Sam we all know and love! Also, please-don't-hurt-me."

She releases him and smiles creepily/pleasantly at Danny, "Just have another heart-to-heart with him tonight and if he _still_ can't tell you what's going on then you have your answer."

"That's a great idea Sam, thanks." Danny stares Vlad down, the man seems a little more composed but definitely not comfortable. And now he's avoiding eye contact entirely. "I hope this works out."

* * *

The limo pulls out of the school parking lot, speeding away one very disgruntled looking Vlad Masters. Ember and Freakshow high-five and turn to each other laughing.

"Nine times. He said his name _nine time!"_

"Oh my god, did you SEE his face? That shit was hilari-"

"YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" A blur of blue, white and furious roughly slams into them, dragging them through the ground to crash into the floor of the school's boiler room.

(Seriously, what is it with the halfas and this room?)

Ember recovers first (being a ghost helps) and shakes a fist at the floating blue mass of rage, _"What,_ do you have a ghost sense too? How did you find us, old-timer?"

"I will _not_ tolerate your sass! You will tell me right this _instant_ what you have done!"

Vlad is so angry his fists are glowing without him realizing it. But he isn't attacking, not yet. He really does have some questions and Ember can tell he's holding back to get his answers first.

She crosses her arms and Freakshow finally joins her, "We did as you asked, Plasmius." He grins, "With an added bonus for the kid."

"But _why?!"_

"Uhh, you were being a dick?" Ember states, as if it were obvious.

Vlad seethes, doing his best to calm himself. Losing his cool right now would be very unwise. But god _damn_ it was tempting to just bash their heads together. With an impressive show of self-discipline, Vlad reigns in his temper and takes a deep breath. "While I am _absolutely furious_ that you have trapped me in my own scheme, I have to commend you both on your trickery. It may be petty but it's still quite amusing I'm sure for anyone else _besides me."_ He pauses, "That being said, I need you to remove it. Now." He relaxes, he will be in control again soon. Everything will be alright.

"We can't do that without removing the kid's half of the spell too. It's either all of it goes or nothing." She smirks at him, eyebrow raised.

 _'Smug little shit.'_ Vlad fumes. He almost tells them to call the whole thing off but takes a moment to reflect on the pros and cons of the spell. By giving it up, he would lose the small amount of control he finally has over Daniel. Because of this whole ridiculous spell, they were actually able to have a civil conversation! About a truce! In just a few days! The spell is doing exactly as he had asked, and faster than he had ever hoped. Imagine if he held out for another week or so…

As soon as he has the teen's full trust, he'll be able to do whatever he wants without anyone trying to stop him. Daniel will stop being suspicious of Vlad and stop keeping an eye out for his schemes. "At least he doesn't know about it, so he can't use it against me." He reasons aloud. He thinks back to the disaster that was class this morning. One particular thought nags at him, "Now answer me this: why did I have such a ... uh _strong_ reaction in comparison to Daniel? I know for a fact that he doesn't have nearly the same level of self-control over his emotions as I do my own. Yet he was able to remain mostly undetected while I needed... a distraction." He begrudgingly admits.

"Ha ha! Yes, that was _spectacularly_ embarrassing I'm sure." Freakshow laughs.

Ember smiles sweetly, "Maybe _now_ you'd like to hear the details of the spell you ordered? Since you seem much more interested today?"

Vlad, pissed behind belief but at the mercy of their pettiness, bows his head and mutters a curse under his breath. "Yes, I would like to hear the details now." He grinds out.

"Well first we evened it out by also using your first name as the trigger. Don't worry though, only Babypop can activate it."

Freakshow speaks up, "We also made both spells stackable. As you've observed for yourself already, the more often you utter his name in a single interaction, the stronger the affect of the spell." Vlad now realizes why these two have been spying on him lately and it boils his blood.

Freakshow smiles a creepy, toothy grin, _"But_ , we made sure _your_ side of the spell stacks exponentially quicker than his. It's only fair, the poor lad wears his emotions on his sleeve, as you've already pointed out."

"We wanted to give him a fair chance in your stupid scheme."

Vlad digests this with growing dread. He hates this latest 'stupid scheme.' He hates these two petty assholes. He hates his decision to use them instead of Deseree. Thinking the risk to use her wishing magic and all its negative consequences might have been worth it after all.

He sighs, "Alright, tell me one last thing before I make up my mind. What you did to our... _feelings."_ He cringes, not sure how else to word it. "I asked that you make him think his thoughts are his own about the whole matter, but you've done something there too. Have you tampered with our emotions as well? I keep having these… _thoughts…_ and it's worrisome. Is he having them too?"

The two look at each other in confusion, "Uh what _kind_ of thoughts? What do you mean?"

"Just thoughts!" He aggravatingly flusters, waving a hand in the air vaguely. _'I guess I have no choice but to say it. Well it's not like I'm admitting the thoughts are of my own creation._ They _did this to me'._ Reassured, he explains, "This past week I've been having... _amorous_ thoughts." He flushes but pushes on, "I focus less on my _purpose_ for the spell and more on the _subject._ My mind keeps conjuring up unhelpful imagery in the most inconvenient times. How else have you bewitched me and have you done it to Daniel as well?" He imagines Danny's utter embarrassment as his two little friends insinuate Danny finding him attractive and even dating. "That little aspect I didn't ask for and yet you added it anyway. That's the most troubling part of all this, I think. I wanted his feelings to be his own, not fabricated. And obviously I don't much enjoy mine being tampered with either."

Vlad crosses his arms, eyeing the pair sternly. _'How will I get out of this mess? I don't like Daniel having an ounce of control over me, let alone my thoughts.'_ He shudders, _'No. I can't lose control. I will FORCE THEM to fix this.'_

But his worries quickly escalate to alarm when his two employees suddenly burst out laughing. Hard.

Ember falls backwards she laughes so hard, Freakshow is even worse off. He is currently crouched on the ground and emitting a mixture of freakish cackling and snorting.

Vlad taps his foot and waits impatiently, worry gnawing at his belly.

Eventually he tires of their continuous fit, both now clutching each other and attempting to communicate but only able to just point at Vlad and roar louder.

Vlad snarls and calls forth pink ecto-ropes. He lashes his employees together and strings them upside down from the swinging light fixture.

"Enough!" He blasts the ground beneath their heads. Both stop laughing and look at the floor in nervousness.

"Explain to me this _instant_ what has you both in hysterics or I will _wring it from you myself!"_

Freakshow coughs and takes a deep breath. One wrong word to the enraged half-ghost could leave his very-much-human-body in pieces. He assumes Ember would also suffer, albeit in a different form. "About the ah, _feelings portion_ Mr. Plasmius... um, well, we _didn't_ include that bit, sir."

"What. Do. You. Mean?" Vlad growls out slowly.

"He means that we never messed with your mind. Or the kid's. You wanted his feelings to be genuine and they are." Ember shifts uncomfortably in the ropes.

"We did as you asked, in that regard." Freakshow adds hopefully.

Vlad freezes, "What?" He asks quietly.

"The spell doesn't stack your _feelings_ about each other, only _physical reactions_. And, even if it _did,_ you wouldn't have had any 'thoughts' until he said your name today anyway." Freakshow rushes to explain, seeing their would-be torturer falter, "The spells rely on auditory cues." He pauses and gently finishes with, "Your ah feelings... are your own."

Ember turns her head to hide her smirk. Both suddenly drop to the floor in a jumbled heap.

Freakshow looks up to see Vlad has shut down. He hasn't moved a muscle, even his subconscious floating has frozen. Freakshow nudges Ember and tilts his head towards the catatonic ghost. She wordlessly grabs his sleeve, and they quickly retreat. The grim expression on her face and terror in her eyes is clear: Vlad is about to spontaneously combust and neither of them want to be there when it happens.

' _These thoughts… are… my own?'_


	7. Chapter 7

(Don't) Say My Name - Chapter 7

* * *

Vlad makes his twentieth circle around the boiler room. He's still under the school. He's still reeling from his backfired interrogation with Ember and Freakshow. _'They have to be lying. They must.'_

" _ **We never messed with your mind. Or the kid's. You wanted his feelings to be genuine and they are."**_

' _No.'_ Because if they weren't lying…

He remembers when he first learned about the dark twist to the spell, how he fantasized - however unwillingly - about Daniel pressed into his side, pretty blues looking up at him, needy, desperate...

' _No.'_ The implications are too impossible.

" _ **The spell doesn't stack your feelings about each other, only physical reactions."**_

' _Absolutely not.'_

He remembers thinking about Daniel relieving 'pent up aggression' as his friends so flippantly put it. How he imagined about it being _his_ name that Daniel would moan out. How goddamned _exciting_ that thought was.

' _I fantasized in a_ classroom.'

" _ **The spells rely on auditory cues."**_

"Oh _fuck!"_

* * *

"Okay, what'd you guys get for 17b?" Tucker calls from his perch on the couch, pencil in his mouth slightly garbling his words.

Sam, sitting near his feet and working on her own English homework at the coffee table, leans away so he can get a better look at her answers. She's already 8 questions _past_ 17b.

Danny answers, "He plans to talk to De Lacey in private because he's blind and can't judge him on looks." from the floor across from them. He prefers to work on his stomach. Something about the carpet being soft.

Tucker groans and begins madly erasing his answer, muttering about the necessity of book reports, particularly _Frankenstein_ to function in society.

Sam finishes the page she was on and leans back, watching Danny work before suddenly asking, "So what do you think Vlad's been hiding?"

Danny's feet pause their swinging as he looks up at her, frown suddenly marring his features. "I don't know, it must be bad if he's so ashamed though." He stares off to the side, lost in thought.

After a few moments of silence, Tucker asks, "So, imagine yourself in his shoes and you just found out how ugly you are, what would _you_ do first?"

Danny sits up, bristling, "Hey! Vlad isn't ugly!"

Sam chuckles and raises an eyebrow at him, "Oh he isn't, now is he?"

Tucker stares at him, "Dude… I was talking about the monster? You know, the homework?" He points to the book as further proof.

Danny feels his whole body run cold then hot, and embarrassedly looks away, "R-right. I knew that. Umm, what question was that for?"

Sam snorts and flips back in her notes. Tucker just shakes his head, "I was just curious. I mean, my first thought wouldn't be to _reveal_ myself to someone if I found out I was an abomination…" He trails off, trying not to laugh at his friend's expense.

"Sooo do you think he's _hot?"_ Sam asks curiously, handing Tucker her book.

Danny blanches at her and turns his face away, "I, uh... I wouldn't say _that."_ His voice sounds strained.

Sam hums loudly, "But didn't you say he _turns you on?_ How come you don't think he's hot?"

"Oh my god Sam! Seriously?!"

"It's a simple question, Danny."

He thinks about it, picturing Vlad in his mind. _'He's definitely not ugly, he takes good care of himself… Image is important to the public of course.'_ He finds his cheeks warming, it's still weird thinking about his old enemy this way. But even beaten and bleeding, Vlad always manages to looks good.

Danny realizes he's been quiet for too long and Sam is still watching him. "I guess he isn't _bad_ looking." He says nonchalantly, pretending to be very interested in his pencil and sharpening it unnecessarily.

"So you don't have a career in acting…" Sam says, grinning like a wolf at him.

He pretends he doesn't hear her, staring at his Frankenstein book but not reading the words. He thinks about Vlad in class that day and how uncomfortable he looked. _'What IS his problem? Did he maybe hurt himself and is embarrassed to tell me about it? Maybe it really isn't a big deal and he's just being an idiot…"_ That thought certainly doesn't surprise him, but he wonders what role Ember and Freakshow play in this. _'Maybe I can corner them and ask again… more forcefully.'_

The silence stretches with nothing but the sound of Tucker's furious pencil scratching the paper, still working to catch up on his homework. He suddenly asks, "So he vows vengeance on all mankind after just one bad incident? Who even _does_ that? Seems pretty dumb…"

Danny glares at Tucker, pursing his lips before biting out, "Well _obviously_ he was upset. You would be too if you suddenly ' _died'_ and lost your only friends, family and love interest because of one stupid mistake. He was _clearly_ very emotional and not being used to rejection he kind of –"

"Whoa, Danny easy!" Tucker cuts in, holding his hands up in surrender. "The book, man, the book! I'm doing my fucking homework, not talking about _Vlad_ again!"

Sam suddenly bursts out laughing. She was trying to hold it in when Danny went off on Tucker again but _really._ This was just too much.

Danny is understandably red in the face and breathes out a tiny, "-oh."

He ducks his head in his notebook and does his best to reread some paragraphs and get back in the game here, because really, this is ridiculous.

Tucker rolls his eyes and figures out his question on his own. Sam looks over his shoulder and nods along, pointing out a few spelling mistakes here and there and Tucker swatting her away.

Eventually Tucker comes across one point that raises a question. He looks to Sam silently and raises an eyebrow, finger to his lips. He clears his throat and flicks his eyes over to Danny, still lost in thought with a goofy grin on his face. "So, in the end he feels alone in the world and obviously wants a companion to share it with. Do you think he deserves it, since he's done so much evil already?"

Sam and Tucker watch in amusement as the small smile disappears from their friend's face and is replaced with a scowl. " _Everyone_ deserves someone Tuck, _and_ a chance to redeem themselves. Why the fuck would you-" he cuts himself off and takes in their smug looks and pales, "Wait, who are you talking about?"

Tucker leans forward and enunciates slowly, "Who do _you_ think?"

Danny looks between their two shit-eating grins and groans, flopping backwards onto the carpet. He feels his whole body warm and sweat as his best friends cackle at him from the couch. He covers his face with his hands and mutters, "Assholes," earning him harder laughter in response.

* * *

"Ah, hello, Mrs. Ishiyama. May I have a small moment of your time?"

The principal stows away her paperwork and gestures to the chair across from her pleasantly. "Of course, Mr. Masters, come right in! How have your classes with Mr. Lancer been coming along?"

He adopts a regretful posture, "Well that is what I wished to discuss actually-"  
"I hear great things from Mr. Lancer." She happily cuts in. "He tells me the students have really taken a liking to you and your teaching style!"

He bristles at the interruption but tries again, "Well I'm glad he thinks that way but Mrs. Ishiyama, I-"

She cuts him off again, smile too wide and words too sweet, "He tells me their participation has nearly doubled! I feel like your volunteering this week has made such a wonderful impact on their lives. If only you could be here longer!" She sighs, "I understand you're a busy man but clearly you have a knack for teaching."

Vlad seems perturbed by her interrupting again, wishing he could just get to the part where he tells her he's quitting early, "Yes well that's all well and good but-"

"Ah well, there's only 3 days left. At least the students get to look forward to that much." Her eyes pierce into his skull, pinning him to the tiny chair, making him feel like a negligent child himself. "Its so nice for them to have such an influential leader in our community taking time away from his duties to speak with and understand our youth." She seems to grow in size, the walls of the room squeezing in on them. "You are such an important role model for them, it's nice to show them what _true dedication_ to the job can really award you." Her voice hardens, tone so pleasant it's almost insulting, "You are showing them how _following through_ with your promises is one of the most _vital_ things a man of your stature can do for his people. Everyone here is so _proud_ to have you this week. Your last day _on Friday_ will be a sad day indeed."

Her speech leaves Vlad feeling small and powerless, warning in her voice clear as day. He opens his mouth to admit defeat/agree his last day will certainly be Friday. His voice cracks on the first syllable and he corrects it, trying again with a quiet, "Yes of course." He looks at his hands to collect his thoughts, feeling small and stupid for even trying to get out of this. "I am happy to hear such wonderful reviews from Lionel," He stands, prompting her to copy his movement, and puts on a brave face, "However please excuse me, I must check in on my secretary before her shift ends."

They shake hands, Vlad knowing if it weren't for his super-human strength that his hand would have bruised from her grip. He smiles pleasantly and does his best to not _flee_ from her office.

The principal sits down and smiles to herself, watching the door close with a self-satisfied nod. She reaches into her jacket pocket, pulling out a small flask and quickly uncapping the lid. The smell of whiskey flows into her nostrils as she hurriedly takes a sip, slamming the lid back on and stowing it away again. She grabs her paperwork that she was working on before the interruption and resumes running her school, pleased with herself.

* * *

The trio has moved on to their math homework. It's mostly silent as there's a lot less theory with these kinds of questions. Tucker is closer to his element here and offers Sam and Danny assistance where he can.

Mrs. Tucker takes that moment to walk in with a few plates of refreshments, smiling at the quiet room and carefully stepping over Danny to place the plates on the coffee table. The teens thank her and rush the snacks, happy for a break from the jumble of letters and numbers they are dissecting.

Danny munches in silence, looking at his watch to keep an eye on the time.

Tucker notices and figures where his mind has gone, _again,_ "What if you, I don't know, just let this one thing go?"

Danny and Sam look at him, question marks almost _visible_ above their heads. "I mean, if he won't tell you what he's been doing with Ember and Freakshow, but still wants a truce, then maybe this one thing isn't so bad?" Tucker explains, "Could you just let it go? Save him the embarrassment and move on to being friends?"

"No way!" Danny doesn't even hesitate.

Sam hums, "Wait, actually think about this though Danny. He may be on to something here." She looks at Tucker and tilts her head, "If he's willing to play Good or at least Neutral then no matter what, we win. He may not want to tell you this one thing, but it might not even be that bad."

"That's what I mean!" Tucker nods, "He'll stop doing evil shit around town anyway and so this point just ends up being null and void, right? Could you just let him have this one secret?"

Danny sighs, "I get what you're both saying, but this is _Vlad_ we're talking about. And I'm kind of surprised at you Tuck, you _just said_ in class that this must be a big deal thing for him if it's the one plan he wont talk about. A big deal for him _can't_ be good. I _have_ to know."

They lapse into silence, all wondering what the fuck Vlad is up to, and with such an unlikely duo to boot.

Sam snaps her fingers in a 'Eureka' moment. "How about you fight him?"

That certainly surprises both boys, who look at her like she's nuts. But experience keeps their opinions to themselves until she finishes her thought. Her thoughts usually make sense in the end. _Usually._

"If you attack him and he fights back like always then you know he's doing shady shit and hasn't changed. But," she holds up a finger, "if he hesitates and doesn't wasn't to fight, maybe even goes so far as to avoid the fight entirely then you know he really _was_ entertaining the truce. He'll try to do anything _else_ to appease you and make you trust him. Then you know his heart is in the right place, its just his pride that isn't."

The boys stare at her in awe.

"Wow…" Tucker breathes, sharing a nod with Danny. "Girls are so _manipulative…"_

Sam punches him in the shoulder, hard, and flips Danny the bird for good measure.

Danny snorts but smiles, "I like it. It's totally crazy but makes sense. Jazz would be so proud of you Sam." He raises an eyebrow at the girl who crosses her arms and huffs. "I'll save it as a backup plan, but I'm hoping things don't come to that." He pops another snack in his mouth. "I guess it depends on what happens tonight." He says around the mouthful thoughtfully.

* * *

Vlad has paced many steps in this one day. He makes another loop around his study, brows furrowed, hands clasped behind his back. His thoughts, as always it seems lately, surrounding the youngest Fenton and the utterly ridiculous situation he has placed them both in.

"This is NOT how I expected things to be going!" He growls angrily, not for the first time cursing Ember and Freakshow and their 'creativity.' "I wonder how Deseree would have handled this… would she have made such a mess of things?"

He makes another lap, thinking about the wish-giving ghost. "Would I have time to find her and wish to turn things around?" He scoffs, already imagining her laughing in his face for the stupid situation he put himself in, no doubt enjoying his pain. "She would probably take their side in this," He mutters, thinking about Ember and Freakshow, "she would without a doubt make things worse for her own entertainment."

Shaking his head and crossing that idea off his list, he passes his desk again and turns around. He catches sight of himself in a mirror and steps towards it for closer inspection. His loosened tie and flyaway hairs were a dead giveaway to his stress.

"I could come up with something _else_ to tell him. They expect embarrassing or shameful, I could make some idiotic plan up that maybe backfired on me." He realizes he literally just described the situation he is in now. He breathes out loudly through his nose, "Something _else._ I just need to change the plan I was attempting, I can keep the damned embarrassment for acting points."

He studies his complexion in the mirror, "What could I say? Would it be convincing enough?" He'd also have to swear the two ex-employees to silence. He frowns, "That could be giving them power against me - a bargaining chip. I can't have that." He mulls over the pros and cons of doing away with them entirely and just killing them but realizes Daniel and his little friends might suspect him for their sudden disappearance too, "How annoying," he groans.

He resumes pacing, "Not to mention Daniel seems to be infuriatingly more perceptive than most professionals I work with daily." He muses about that for a moment, vowing to never let Daniel in on that thought, just in case he takes it as a compliment. He has an image to keep up of course.

But it is an undeniable truth that the teen seems to be able to read Vlad well, perhaps just as well as Vlad can read him. The man just chocks this up to their shared half-dead status. The super hearing, reflexes and of course 4 years of fighting each other all helps too. They've danced around each other enough to notice the small cues, subtle shifts and weaknesses in stance. They certainly share a unique bond and it gives the teen an edge that Vlad currently finds very aggravating.

He finally admits he probably can't lie convincingly enough to Daniel and crosses that plan off his list too. He sighs in resignation, "I simply cannot afford to take the chance. If he even slightly suspects me…" He trails off. It would ruin this very delicate thing they've begun to dance around. "No, I have to be honest." He grimaces at the word, tasting its bitterness. "It's for the best. The rewards of the future will be well worth the embarrassment of today."

He decides he can live with that. This could even be something they look back on and laugh about, as _friends._

* * *

Danny packs away the last of his homework supplies into his bookbag. Tucker lounges on his couch, clicking away on his PDA.

Sam had driven back to her own home already, but not before offering Danny a lift. He declined so he could finish up the last bit of his math work (apparently, he was very distracted tonight and worked slower than his friends. Mercifully, no one commented on _why_ ).

"Alright," Danny announces, standing and shouldering his bag, "I'm all set."

Tucker walks him to the door, pocketing his device and putting a hand to his friend's shoulder. "Hang on man."

Danny stops and eyes him wearily, expecting another jab about Vlad for the road.

Tucker surprises him with a genuine smile, "I know we've been pretty hard on you lately, but you know Sam and I have your back, right?"

At Danny's nod, the teen continues, "We both were kind of weirded out at first because, ya know, it's _Vlad,_ your sworn enemy and all that shit. But if anyone can turn his evil ass around, it's definitely you." Tucker gives him a rueful smile, "Sam and I would never have given him the time of day, you're obviously a better person than us."

Danny grins and blows his bangs out of his face, "I meant it when I said everyone deserves a second chance. You guys aren't bad people though, I know why you're suspicious of him. I'm not _that_ stupid."

Tucker leans against the doorframe, arms folded and grinning like a madman, "Just stupid for Vlad." He laughs at Danny's eyeroll, "Okay, okay, sorry. Couldn't help it."

Danny gives him a weird look, "Why are you guys so cool about this whole Vlad-thing anyway?" He waves his hand in front of himself vaguely, "I was expecting you both to be going on about his age and how _so not appropriate_ these ah… _feelings_ are." He bites out the word with a quick wince.

Tucker shrugs, "Meh, you like who you like. It's definitely not normal but neither are you two." He snickers at Danny's huff and continues, "You guys have something no one else does and honestly, you _should_ be working together, not _against_ each other. It's a waste, in my opinion." He hums in thought, "That doesn't mean you have to bump uglies with him but whatever, bonus I guess?"

Danny chokes on his next breath, _"Tuck!"_ he wheezes. _"What the fuck!"_

Tucker just laughs and claps him on the back, roughly. "Dude chill, you still need to breathe half the time. Until you die _entirely."_ He informs his best friend good-naturedly. "Yeah he's old but just think of all the _experience_ he has." He waggles his eyebrows at Danny suggestively.

Danny feels a tingle in his cheeks and ears, knowing a blush has spread across his skin like wildfire. He drags a hand across his face in a weak attempt to wipe the telling colour away. "Why does the crazy shit always happen to me?" He mutters.

Tucker follows his friend's lead into changing the conversation, "Yeah I used to be envious about that. It's _always_ you, I felt so damned second-rate in comparison." He frowns, remembering his younger self, "I was pretty stupid about that."

Danny crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow, "Want to trade places?"

"Hell fuckin' no!" Tucker blurts, waving his hands in front of himself protectively, "I learned my lesson! Besides, I see now how tired you are, like, _all_ the time. I _know_ how much sleep you get and honestly? That life just isn't for me."

They both laugh, knowing Tucker couldn't function as a human being without his full 8 hours of sleep every night.

"No offence, but I like being able to shut it off sometimes." Tucker continues, eyes lowered in shame.

"None taken, dude. I get it. I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through it in my place, that's for sure." He flashes a warm smile at his friend, "Besides, where would we be if none of this happened anyway? Seems kind of boring, being a normal teenager with only normal problems."

They giggle and share a quick bro-hug, Danny turns to leave, still smiling.

"Oh, one word of advice?" Tucker calls to him from the doorway.

Danny turns to show he's listening but continues to walk backwards.

"Be careful not to mix business and pleasure!" He cackles at his own joke and slams the door. Probably to avoid getting an ecto-blast to the shin.

Danny cringes and quickly turns around to hide his blush, _'Goddamn it, I thought he was done teasing me!'_

He fumes silently as he steps onto the sidewalk. He chooses to walk home tonight, not in a rush to get home and definitely not in a rush to see Vlad. He couldn't have Tucker teasing him about _that_ too.

* * *

Vlad arrives above the roof of FentonWorks in a cloud of swirling pink. It was dramatic and awesome, as he had intended.

But no one saw it.

' _Where is he?'_ he wonders silently, circling the property, noting the lack of Daniel in every room. It wasn't necessary, his ghost sense would have gone off if the teen were home. _'Well, where else would he be?'_

' _He's most likely with his little friends.'_ Vlad rolls his eyes, _'Those three might as well be_ attached _for the amount of time they spend together.'_

He suddenly remembers the Manson girl and her icy stare at dinner a couple nights ago. She mentioned they have a little study group everyday. That must be where Daniel is, at one of the other two's houses.

He wonders which house he should start at, contemplating flying around the neighbourhood until his ghost sense goes off. This would cause Daniel to investigate in his phantom form and Vlad really didn't want to disturb a student from their studies. Maybe he could come back later-

A sudden boom startles the halfa from his thoughts, his red eyes widening in alarm. He scans the horizon, swiftly locating a fireball rising up from the downtown core. He narrows his eyes and takes off immediately, suspicious of its source.

"Who the devil…"

Normally he wouldn't care so much, people were always doing idiotic stuff and hurting themselves. He wasn't about to help someone out of a hard life lesson. This time, however, is an exception.

This fireball, and the following smoke cloud plume, is _green._ More specifically, _ectoplasmic_ green.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for your support so far with my first VladxDanny fic,I have a couple more I'd like to pump out before switching pairings.

I just wanted to take the time to thank those of you favourite-ing, following and of course reviewing my work. I used to write all flowery and over the top but a teacher once accused me of plagiarizing because I didn't write how I talked. So now I write how I talk and it sometimes worries me that I'm not coming across as a serious writer, but then people like you tell me how much you enjoy my writing style and it relights the fire in my belly. So thanks for that, and please enjoy the rest of my fic!

Also, for those that offered to BETA for me. I appreciate it but I think I've decided to go down with my ship, flames and all. I don't want to wreck any storyline for you and honestly, my story-planning is hectic and confusing, even for me. i don't want anyone else to have to experience it hahaha But again, thanks! :)


	8. Chapter 8

(Don't) Say My Name – CHAPTER 8

* * *

Vlad takes his time arriving on the scene, no need to rush in head-first and get caught up in a blunder (like some OTHER halfa that comes to mind).

As ghost sense confirms the paranormal nature of the explosion, Vlad slows to a stop on the edge of a parking lot and observes the wreckage. The strip-mall is engulfed in the same curious green flames and there are large and strangely sweeping scorch marks in the pavement. It's still smoldering and giving off a slight sulfuric smell.

Vlad barely has time to puzzle out the meaning of all that when he hears a loud "Ah HAH!" followed by the sharp sting of a rock thrown to the side of his head. He turns sharply, fangs bared at the outrageous act, who would even DARE throw a –

Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley. _Of course._ Tucker stands with his arms crossed while Samantha scoops up another rock, tossing it up and down in her palm, both eyeing him crossly.

"I KNEW it!" She hollers to the heavens before turning to her companion, "I _knew_ it was too good to be fucking true!" She gestures aggressively at Vlad _,_ "He's _obviously_ behind this!"

Tucker nods, eyes glued to the half-ghost, disappointment marring his face. Finally he sighs, "Yeah, I guess so. It's just too much of a coincidence."

Vlad begins to defend himself, claiming "This is all a large misunderstanding-" before abruptly clamping his mouth shut as Sam whips the second rock at Vlad's head. Everyone watches it disintegrate into a small pink puff inches before hitting its target straight between the eyes – remarkable aim on that girl.

Growling and now rock-less, she twists a decorative bangle on her wrist that seems vaguely familiar. "I even _stood up_ for you!" She spits out, in disgust with herself.

Instantly a small ecto-pistol folds out of the dainty jewelry and starts warming up, humming with crackling power as she trains it on their floating adversary. Vlad realizes with a start it's one of the miniatures that Maddie brought to him a couple months ago as a prototype for the company.

"And I appreciated that immensely, Saman-"

"So what's the big plan, _Plasmius?"_ She sneers, cutting him off without so much as a care for his obvious lies. Her finger rests on the trigger housing, itching to just put a hole in his forehead without preamble. But that's not what Danny and them represent, they don't get the luxury of 'Shoot first, ask questions later.'

Realizing the severity of the situation,Vlad holds his hands out in a placating gesture and lands on the ground, attempting to appear as non-threatening as possible. It doesn't work, everyone involved knows just how dangerous he is at all times. It was worth a shot.

"Peace, I have nothing to do with this." He quickly gets out, before he's cut off again.

"Bull _-_ fucking- _shit!"_ Sam roars harshly, she waves her non-weaponized hand towards the wreckage. "So a giant lion starts causing mayhem downtown and you just _happen to be in the neighbourhood?"_ She scoffs and looks at her friend from the corner of her eye, no doubt seeking backup. "You live like an hour away, _up_ town."

"A giant _lion…?"_ Vlad mouths to himself, alarmed.

Tucker merely scoffs and rolls his eyes but otherwise retreats from the confrontation. He has one hand on a weapon hanging from his belt, ever prepared, even subconsciously. He uses his free hand to poke a long slender device that Vlad didn't notice was hanging from the cuff of his ear.

Instantly a blue square of light hangs in front of his face, illuminating the black teen's features. That hand remains in the air, making typing motions now as his eyes scan the blue rapidly. Vlad realizes this is a portable, holographic computer. _Genius._ "Sam, I'm going back in." He mumbles, already engrossed in the screen.

Sam grunts and takes a step slightly in front of Tucker, weapon never once wavering from Vlad's forehead. Both know that it won't stop much if he really wanted to fight but the intended message is clear.

"Listen Miss Manson, I am not at fault for this…" He waves his hand vaguely towards the smoldering shops and overturned/crunched cars, _"…mess._ I realize it doesn't look _good_ but you must underst-"

"You're right, it _doesn't_ look good. You want a truce from Danny and at the same time a giant fucking _ghost lion_ gets released into the downtown core and it just _happens_ to have some weird armour that conveniently bounces ecto-blas-"

She cuts off as Danny zooms onto the scene, breathing harshly. He stops, eyes Vlad and points at him before jerking his thumb towards the wreckage, _"_ This _your_ doing?"

Vlad silently shakes his head, opening his mouth to further deny before Sam cuts in loudly, "He's full of shit!" She shakes the ecto-gun towards him aggressively, "Why else would he be here?!"

Danny pants, eyeing-up Vlad silently, calculating before suddenly waving the whole stand-off away, "Nah, he's good." He declares, slumping forward, hands on the knees.

Sam sputters in exasperation as Danny finally releases a large, weary breath. He tiredly holds a finger up to silence her, "Not now Sam, sorry." He takes a deep breath and straightens, finally addressing his other best friend, "I don't have much time, its trapped inside 6 domed layers of ice right now." He speaks quickly, "Tuck, its skin can't be pierced, and its claws cut into _every_ thing. I can't contain it! _What do you have for me?"_ The desperation is loud and clear.

Tucker flicks and types away at his holographic computer, adding the new information into the system. The silence is awkward, everyone tries to ignore the long and obviously deep claw marks down Danny's arm and the glowing ectoplasm seeping through his shredded HAZMAT suit.

Vlad watches curiously before the information catches at his attention, "'Skin can't be pierced… claws cut everything…'" He hums thoughtfully, "Where have I _heard_ that before…?"

Danny's eyes dart to Vlad, "Whatdoyouknow?" He rushes his words, clearly desperate for any and all information. Sam hisses from beside him, clearly not interested in anything Vlad has to offer.

Vlad fidgets, wishing he'd kept his silly observation to himself, "Well it just reminds me of an ancient Grecian myth… it's probably not related…"

"Vlad, _please."_ Danny pleads, taking a step towards him. Vlad winces as the name falls from Danny's lips and rips through his system, bringing with it an immediate headache and pins and needles. Danny also winces, but because Sam has grabbed his arm in warning. This is the enemy, and probable cause for this incident. She doesn't need to voice her concerns. Danny stops advancing but doesn't turn away from Vlad's eyes, "If you know anything, _anything_ then please tell us. It might help. _Grecian myth?_ We've seen weirder. Just tell us what you're thinking."

His wide green eyes stare at him, imploring him, _trusting him,_ and Vlad feels like _he's_ the one trapped in 6 layers of ice. He gulps down his suddenly racing heart, blaming the spell for it. "Well It seems a tad bit silly, but I do recall _Hercules_ fought such a lion for one of his trials," he cringes the name, waiting for the teens to tease him but quickly moving on when they instead listen intently, "It was enormous, had impervious skin, and claws that could rend the toughest armour."

Tucker begins typing furiously, "Worth a shot." he murmurs.

He pulls up a photo within seconds and turns the screen to his audience. There is a blown-up photo of a giant golden lion, locked in grim battle with assumedly a young Hercules. The teens stare in silence before Danny breathes out in wonder "That's it… That's _it._ Holy _shit."_

Sam moves closer to the screen, lowering her weapon without thinking about it, "OK, so how do we stop i-"

A deafening _crack!_ Followed by a piercing, warbled roar fills the air. Tucker and Sam visibly pale while Danny jumps into the air, "Be right back!" He calls, attempting to sound cheerful but only coming off as frantic and tired.

"How did _Hercules_ beat it?" Sam asks both men, looking between Tucker (who has turned the screen back and begun typing again) and Vlad (still rooted to the spot and staring tight-lipped in the direction Danny flew to).

"I'm on it. I'm on it." Tucker murmurs, scrolling and skimming through lore.

Vlad watches as one of the shop walls bows out like a cartoon joke before suddenly exploding. Danny and the lion are locked in a deadly embrace as they tumble through the twisting chunks of rubble and metal, framed in green flames.

And there it is, the exact image of Hercules and the lion from Tucker's screen but replaced instead with Danny, while the giant golden beast of legend is illuminated in the ghostly green of the dead.

Vlad sucks in a sharp breath, the ferocity in both combatants' eyes is truly the stuff of legends. But Danny isn't the only battle-hardened half-ghost in this town. Vlad notices some of the twisted burning shrapnel is headed directly for Danny's friends and both are too engrossed in the hologram or the battle to notice. Without thinking about it, Vlad raises an arm and conjures pink energy to envelope the two teens.

Shrieking in outrage, Sam sharply lifts her forgotten weapon before too late, the bright energy engulfs her and Tucker, solidifying. She lets off a shot at Vlad a split second too late, watching it burn away harmlessly in front of her as the pink turns opaque. Immediately after that the projectiles bounce off the hardened energy behind their heads. She turns around and takes in the metal and chunks of concrete at her feet. Sam looks up and touches the energy in front of her, finally realizing it's a shield.

 _Vlad's_ shield.

"You … _protected_ us?"

Vlad let the shield melt away and rose into the air, carefully avoiding eye-contact, "I am not responsible for this _lion,_ I assure you." He flew past them, putting himself between the tussle and the teens.

Concentrating, he splits himself into four. Vlad leaves one clone with Sam and Tucker, awaiting the precious answer on how to defeat the lion, simultaneously protecting the teens from any more slip-ups. The last two clones flank Vlad on either side as they finally join the fight. He doesn't normally make a habit of fighting _with_ Danny, preferring to observe his adversary from afar. But today he just can't help himself; Danny seemed so _tired_ when he gave his report moments ago. Vlad didn't like that one bit - the teen hardly tires. Just how hard has he been fighting this invincible lion?

The subject of his thoughts suddenly flew past, having been thrown back by a particularly heavy-handed swipe of one giant paw. Vlad sees Danny wince as he rolls the landing before launching himself back into action. Making quick eye-contact and nodding at each other, Vlad follows along behind the speeding teen and enters the fray. He doesn't comment on the relief shining in those glowing green eyes, or how it makes his gut twist sharply.

The two clones dog-pile the giant lion and attempt to hold it down. Vlad himself conjures his pink ecto-ropes and attempts to lash the beast to the asphalt of the parking lot below. Danny shakes his head and opens his mouth to explain the futility of such a basic action when a sudden swipe of one large paw slices cleanly through the ropes like spider's silk.

The claws also cut a clone in half, killing it instantly. Vlad and his remaining copies wince together as the clone's memories suddenly flood them, letting him know very intimately how it feels to be killed in such a way. Danny shoots him a frown in sympathy - clone deaths are never fun to feel.

"Nothing holds it down," the teen calls to him. Danny glides over to the two Vlads, automatically making eye contact with the original. "Trust me, I've tried everything." He laments, unaware of the older halfa's inner turmoil.

' _He knew which one was me right away?'_ His brief moment of surprise was rudely interrupted by a sudden twisting spray of green fire splitting the heroes apart. _'Don't lose focus, Vladimir. Be impressed later.'_

"Oh yeah, he can breathe fire too. Its fair. _Totally_ fair." Danny adds, snorting.

The lion roars in frustration and turns to run towards the shopping district, clearly in search of easier prey. Danny quickly overtakes it and bars the way – "Oh, _no_ you don't!" - eyes and fists glowing blue with an impressive, chilly aura licking at his form. The lion, understandably, steps back and growls, crouching low to weigh its options.

"Nemean Lion!" Tucker pants, suddenly standing directly under Vlad, Sam looking on the scene vigilantly.

"Pardon me?" Vlad changes places with his clone that was originally left to guard the kids. It joins the fray with the previous one, working on distracting the beast with Danny. They dodge and weave, doing their best to stay clear of the claws, teeth and fire. Nothing daring, just keeping the animal from laying its bloodthirsty gaze on the shopping plaza and innocent bystanders no doubt hiding within.

"It's the Lion of Nemea. It _was_ a task for Hercules." The boy rushes out, loud enough so Danny can hear as well, "Impenetrable skin and claws that cut through anything. It's basically invincible!"

"Great. So how do we – _urk"_ Danny grunts, taking a hard smack and landed roughly in a heap on the ground, "How did _he_ defeat it?" He jumps up at the last possible moment, allowing the lion to pounce on empty space as he rejoins the clones in the sky. Vlad lets out the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Uhhh…" Danny's friend seems to blanch at the information on the screen, the girl looks over his shoulder and has a similar reaction. They seem distraught.

Curious.

"Uh… Danny?" She calls, worry colouring her tone.

"One sec!" He phases into the ground, disappearing for a few frightening seconds before rising up again on the other side of his friends. They jolt but otherwise seem used to this action. Vlad turns back to the lion to maintain their safety, hiding his amusement.

"So? _Did_ you find out how to defeat it?"

"Yeahhh, about that..." Tucker trails off, pointing to the screen and biting his lip.

Vlad keeps his eyes on the escalating fight, watching the lion become increasingly irate but he keeps a pointed ear tuned in the teens' direction, unable to remember the lion's demise for himself.

"'Hercules eventually slayed the beast by knocking it on the head with his club to stun it and then he-'" He sucks in a small breath, "'-he _strangled it to death?!'"_

Vlad stiffens and quickly turns to catch Danny's reaction. _'Oh – he won't do that.'_

The younger halfa stares at the lion, crestfallen _. "I can't do that."_ He whispers. The look was so purely innocent and hopeless that it pulls at Vlad's heart. "There _has_ to be another way!"

Tucker nods quickly and dives back into his research.

Sam kneels down and begins rummaging in her military-grade backpack - the silly purple thing she used to have a few years back long ago traded for something much more practical. Considering their growing arsenal of weapons, the change doesn't surprise Vlad in the least. He rather approves their preparedness, even if that damned backpack and its secrets have been his downfall a handful of times in the past few years.

She pulls out a sleek black Fenton Thermos, thinner yet stronger than the original product by nearly five times. Yet _another_ item from the company. She tosses it to Danny and he catches it without barely looking. He turns to Vlad and grimaces a smile, "Let's try this?"

Vlad nods, watching the younger halfa warily. They take off and join the clones in battle. The clones have been playing 'keep away' to tire the great beast out, but it has only proven to add more scorch marks to the surrounding parking lot.

Danny stops behind the beast and aims the thermos, "Here goes nothing!"

The device emits a low beep and shuts itself off.

"Well, that was underwhelming." Vlad states, making a mental note about that abysmal display for the lab. "But tell me Daniel, why did you wait until _now_ to try this? A few years back this was your favourite weapon."

Danny scrunches his nose and rubs his forehead before smiling sheepishly back at Vlad. _'I should probably use his name less in battle… for safety reasons.'_ The teen chuckles awkwardly and gently tosses the device back to Sam, "It's a… been a while? Ghost activity hasn't been too high this year… a-and we've been training so much, I just wanted to test out some new… techniques first."

Vlad sighs, he can't fault Danny for taking advantage of this opportunity. But his shredded uniform, his exhaustion - he should've chosen an easier target! Something he _knew_ how to defeat when things got ugly…

"We'll have to weaken it, somehow." Danny interrupts Vlad's thoughts, frowning, and shoots ecto-blasts at the lion's feet and hind-quarters. "We won't be able to suck it up into the Thermos - even the newer model - unless it loses some of it's power first." His blasts, of course, bounce harmlessly off the hide of the beast.

Vlad watches as his clones nod and begin attacking the lion with renewed vigor. One shoots finger blasts, to annoy and distract, while the other charges up a larger beam. Both carefully angle their shots to face _away_ from the shopping district.

Vlad flies in to help, blasting and dodging more aggressively than his counterparts. He aims for the interior of the ears, the mouth when it opens, the eyes… He isn't about to play fair and pussyfoot this situation. Let's get this over with.

The lion turns to him in fury and lashes out, claws extended. Vlad easily dances around the massive paw and rolls himself underneath the giant beast, blasting away at typical sensitive locations like the stomach, armpits and genitalia. Nothing seems to really hurt the lion, but it still feels everything, which apparently is enough to enrage it. It snarls and crouches low, latching on to Vlad with both front paws like a cat and a canary. The grip knocks the breath from his lungs instantly, causing disorientation.

Vlad struggles and groans, embarrassed for being caught so easily. If his mind weren't swimming he might've thought to just phase through the harsh grasp. His clones both snap their attention to the beast's face, attempting to dislodge their creator.

"VLAD!" Danny cries in shock.

His outburst costs Vlad dearly.

While the spell weaves its course through Vlad's body, he attempts to push down the affects, closing his eyes and stilling his struggles in concentration. He feels a flash of irritation towards the teen and then at himself for even _being_ in this situation.

But he sure as hell doesn't want to let all this pumping adrenaline from the fight travel into new and exciting _locations_ in his body. It takes everything in him to remain stoic.

Unfortunately, the lion uses this distraction as a chance to finally do some damage and quickly leans in, sinking its sharp fangs deep into shoulder tissue. Vlad cries out in anguish - the strength of the beast is staggering.

This is a creature that has never had to fear anything on the earth, except apparently Hercules himself. It tears into Vlad's flesh easily with a flick of its head. The blood that sprays out paints the ground a sickly, glowing green.

" _NO!"_

Vlad finds himself quickly released from the crushing pressure and being whisked away before his mind catches up with him. He watches in a daze as Danny deposits him on the grass next to his friends, ordering them to make sure he heals before rejoining the fight with a set jaw and angry glint in his eye.

"Uh, Vlad?"

"Vlad!"

"Helloooo?"

"Snap out of it, idiot!"

He realizes the two teens have been gently prodding him for his attention. He grits his teeth and makes to stand but two pairs of hands are holding him down firmly.

Tucker speaks first, "You need to concentrate! Like, _right now!"_

Vlad grunts and pushes the hands off of him.

"Stop it Vlad!" Samantha wastes no time getting right in his face, "You are seriously injured and missing a good chunk of your shoulder. You need to focus on healing that before anything else." Vlad looks over her head and watches Danny zoom around the lion's face, blasting ice at its eyes and nose (which is surprisingly effective) while angrily shouting stupid one-liners all the while.

Vlad snorts at the display, wincing immediately at the pull in his shoulder.

Sam snaps her fingers in his face, begrudgingly returning his attention to her, "You can't help like this. You're bleeding way too much. Hurry up and heal before you do something stupid and Danny has to save you, _again."_

That wakes him up, he ignores the silly girl in front of himself to look down at his shoulder and take in the damage.

The entire top muscle – the deltoid - and half of the bicep is missing. Gone. There's ectoplasm _everywhere._

' _That really_ is _an awful lot of blood…'_ He muses. He can't even make out his nice blue skin under all that _green._ "Oh dear…" He breathes weakly.

Tucker snorts but returns his attention to the computer screen in his face, tapping away like mad. No doubt looking for a solution still. Vlad wishes he'd hurry up.

"I'm gonna heal this now." He mumbles sloppily, tiredly reaching inwards for his ghostly power. Sam sits back with a relieved sigh, casting a quick glance at the battle before gathering her weapons and putting her back to Vlad in a protective stance. He watches her in disbelief before gritting his teeth and stubbornly yanking on his personal signature, surrounding himself in his calming red and pink tones and focusing it on the fatal injury.

He aims his aura towards the arteries first, locating the torn edges and suffusing it with raw power from his core. The throbbing red tones slowly work to stitch him back together, weaving himself new muscle and skin in a very tedious, exhausting process.

He knows he can't do this for too long, he needs to preserve his energy to help these ridiculous teenagers protect some faceless people from the city. He stops as soon as the muscle is formed, leaving the skin and finesse for later looking in to. He tiredly stands, clenching his fist experimentally.

"You good, Vlad?" Tucker asks, sparing a moment to glance over the tops of his glasses at the older halfa.

Vlad huffs and looks away, focusing on the battle at hand.

Now it's Sam's turn to snort, never taking her eyes off the battle, "Oh don't be so embarrassed, everyone slips up. We've been fighting this thing for a while now, fatigue will be our biggest weakness." She pauses, "Besides like, not knowing how to stop it."

"I'm sorry! I'm not finding _anything!"_ Tucker suddenly shouts in frustration, "The myth just keeps _repeating_ itself: he tries arrows, they bounce off, he corners it into a cave, stuns it and then… _you know."_ He fumbles the last point, unwilling to even _say_ 'strangle' apparently.

Vlad resists the urge to roll his eyes at the three's goody-two-shoe-ness. Ridiculous.

He turns to watch the battle just as one of his clones gets harshly swatted to the ground. With morbid curiosity he watches himself cough up ectoplasm, too damaged to move out of the way as the lion slams the same paw down on the lower half of the broken body, smashing it to mush and ultimately halting any plans for escape. The clone turns and makes eye contact with its creator, eyes wide and face pale, mere seconds before the lion dips down to chomp of his head.

Just before impact, Danny swoops in and holds the teeth back, a hand on the upper and lower jaws each. Feet planted, chest puffed with exertion, his arms shake with the strength needed to keep the jaws from closing over the vulnerable clone. Glowing ectoplasmic blood seeps from his palms. Vlad is momentarily stunned at the bravery over a damned _clone_ and curses Danny for his stupidity. He quickly releases the copy from existence, taking in the small amount of life energy and wincing as the wounds join his memories, but thankfully not a complete death. He clenches his fist at the unnecessary gamble of the young halfa's life.

Sam cries out in shock and protest but is quickly drowned out by Vlad furiously exploding at him.

"ARE YOU _SERIOUSLY_ THAT STUPID?!" He roars out angrily, flying to the young idiot's side to help him out of his stuck position.

"I didn't – ugh – want you t-to – have to feel another death! Jesus! Just b-be thankful!" The moron gasps and strains at the lion's strength, it's tail thrashing irritatingly and shaking its head to try and dislodge the young hero. The shaking tears at his injured palms but he can't seem to let go without allowing the jaws clamp onto his own head now.

The throat glows threateningly with what Vlad has begun to associate with fire-breath and sneers at the giant beast. He seethes inwardly at the teen next to him before shooting multiple blood red ecto-blasts into the open mouth, rapid-fire. The beast cancels its fire breath, coughs and immediately steps back to shake its head and sputter.

"…Huh…" Danny watches thoughtfully, in an irritatingly calm voice.

"IT WAS JUST A CLONE!" Vlad explodes in his face, gripping his skinny arm with iron strength, phasing them both and hauling the idiot into the air and out of reach of the pesky lion.

Danny simply shrugs and grins, blowing the hair out of his eyes, "It wasn't that big a de-"

"Don't you DARE!" Vlad can't remember being this panicky in battle, his mind is spinning. Reeling. Picturing those jaws overcoming Danny's strength and snapping down- "You could've DIED over a CLONE, Daniel! You would have been lost over MILD DISCOMFORT! HOW could you be so-"

"It looked like you." Said a small, nonchalant voice. The sentiment pauses Vlad's tirade in its tracks, "I didn't want to see it-you- _die_ … like that…" The young halfa avoids eye contact and studies his palms before experimentally closing and opening his fists a couple times.

Vlad falters, heart flickering before he clamps down on it and shoves those thoughts aside. "Now is not the time to be risky, Little Badger." He chastises quietly, breathing deep and reigning in his emotions. "Mr. Foley cannot find an alternative for us, what would you like to do?"

Danny cringes and finally looks back at Vlad, "I can't do what Hercules did, Vlad. It's _not right."_

Vlad closes his eyes and breathes deeply, feeling his heart accelerate and some blood stir so very inappropriately in his loins. He feels sweat bead down his spine and along his ribs. His heart hammers, attempting to help the infernal spell by pumping blood faster in his veins. After taking a moment to collect himself and calm the traitorous organ, he opens his eyes and calmly states, "I know, therefore _I_ will do it."

Danny whips his whole body around to face Vlad, giving his undivided attention. His entire frame screams _shock._

"V-"

"Ah!" Vlad quickly cuts him off with one finger up, trying to save some dignity in this situation. "I will save your poor little good-guy heart the trouble. This kind of act is not something that should ever taint your innocent soul. But mine is already ugly and dark, it won't bother me the same." Danny's eyes flick between Vlad's, back and forth, looking for… he doesn't know what. Maybe a trick? Would Danny trust him to do this? Would Danny trust him after _offering_ something like this? He doesn't honestly know. This kind of thing goes against the teen's moral code.

But with no other options, they have little choice. There are innocents in the area, after all.

Vlad sighs, "Try anything else you have, so you'll feel better knowing you gave it your all. Be sure you have exhausted _all_ of your ideas. If you still fail at the end of all possible plans, then I will do this deed for you."

"'If?'" Danny can't seem to help the slight lift in the corner of his mouth, "Don't you mean _when?"_

Vlad shakes his head and turns his face back to the growling lion below and his final remaining clone, _"If._ I have faith in you, Little Badger. Once your heart is set, nothing stands in your way… as annoying as that may have been in the past…" He grins over at the teen, "You always seem to pull miracles out of thin air. It's something I can't help but… admire." He dwindles off, mumbling the last word as he realizes he's _actually complimenting_ the teen. Completely unintentional. Horrendously embarrassing.

Danny's entire face blooms into a radiant smile, and he flings himself into a backwards summersault and towards the lion with exuberance.

' _Is my faith really so thrilling?'_

Vlad lands near the two human teens, taking a protective stance and recalling his last clone to take in another breath of life energy. He may have come very close to it a moment ago, but he'll never _purposefully_ admit how much he was looking forward to what miracle a nearly 18-year-old Daniel Fenton can pull from his pretty little head.

' _Ugh, not the time.'_ Vlad rolls his red eyes at himself before focusing fully on said teen.

"Well this is a Greek mythology character, right? Sooo wasn't there something about music putting scary monsters to sleep?" Danny wonders aloud, looking to his friends for backup.

Sam slaps a palm onto her face, "That was Cerberus, Danny. I don't think that'll work here…"

"Worth a shot buddy!" Tucker hollers, pulling out a sleek-looking speaker from the backpack and facing it towards the lion.

Danny and him flash each other grins while Sam throws her hands in the air with exasperation, "Guys! Different myth! Different situation! Different fucking _species!_ One is a dog and the other is a _lion?_ "

Vlad hesitantly speaks up, "Miss Manson, as Mr. Fenton has pointed out earlier, stranger things have happened… Should we not at least _try_ it?" _'Considering the futility of this situation?'_ He adds silently.

Sam whips her gaze to him, narrowing her eyes and silently trying to kill him with her look alone. At least, that is how Vlad interprets it. "I still don't know what to think about you, I don't like this," here she gestures between Vlad, herself and her friends, "It's too fishy," She takes a deep breath, "But I guess you aren't _wrong._ " She steps close to him and roughly jabs one purple-tipped fingernail into his chest, "But if _anything_ here goes bad then I'm going to blame _you_ and act _accordingly._ " She steps back, "Got it?" She doesn't even wait for him to answer, but turns to help Tucker set up the music.

The sparks in Sam's eyes and dark undertones in her voice leave Vlad surprisingly nervous. He gulps, unsure now if he wants to divulge his secrets with Danny about the spell. Because no doubt Danny will seek the advice of his two companions, and they most assuredly will want to kill him. Or at the very least _maim_ him. And they happen to be some of the very few human beings in existence that know _how to do just that._

He's spent many years doing unsavoury things for his power, making enemies disappear and overshadowing the competition. But never before has he felt more anxiety in a non-fatal situation, than watching the flames in this brave girl's eyes threaten to consume him without hesitation or remorse.

Vlad knows she would enjoy it. In another life, he may have tried to take her in and groom all this raw, violent potential on the world. But for now, he just silently watches her plug a power-pack into Tucker's speaker, then lean over his shoulder to help select the proper lullaby.

They grin at each other and shout to Danny, "Ready!"

Danny swoops low and leads the lion towards the other two teens, "Incoming!" He shouts back, looping backwards into a wide arc over the creature's spine. He ices the beast's back and belly before connecting either side to the ground, effectively tethering the lion in place. With it's face towards the two humans and midsection trapped in place, Tucker nods and clicks something on his holographic screen.

A gentle music wafts through the air. The harp strings plucking daintily as everyone holds their breath.

The lion's ear twitches towards the speaker. It tilts it's head in curiosity and waits. Everyone waits.

After only fifteen seconds the beast seems to grow bored with the sound and become more and more interested with it's bindings.

After thirty seconds the feline has completely ignored the music in favour of gnashing its teeth and growling, struggling hard against the ice. It raises a back leg and claws at the frosty trap, shredding a small portion into slush. The rest of the structure remains sound.

One minute into the song, the lion roars in frustration, impatient with its progress and sets fire to everything in the vicinity, the ice, the speaker system, even the twisted remains of an overturned car next to it.

The song cuts out as the speaker bursts into flames and melts down into a sad puddle. The ghostly cat flicks its tail and slinks towards the building again, ears flat and begins bathing itself aggressively.

"Ooookay." Tucker breaks the silence, "Um, the music was a good idea but definitely did not work." He flushes as everyone shoots him a dark look and hurriedly adds, "That ice was really strong though, he didn't seem to like that! Too bad those claws are so sharp…"

Danny hums in thoughtful agreement and informs the group he has another idea before dutifully taking off again. Vlad admires the tenacity but remains silent. He can't really think of anything to help. He feels so useless. He has never needed to come up with damage-control plans. What an impossible task! Poor Hercules.

Poor Danny.

Tucker looks around and quickly drops to his knees next to the puddle that once was his speaker, dramatically wailing to the skies above. Sam pats his shoulder and coos comforting words to him like, "Another one." - "Bigger and better." and the most amusing; "Heat-resistant."

Vlad scoffs at the undignified display and turns back to Danny. He observes the teen flying lower, slower and keeping his arms down at his sides instead of up and in a protective position. _'He seems very tired.'_ Vlad hopes Danny will find a solution soon. And true to his word, he honestly _believes_ Danny will find a way. _'He always had such excellent problem-solving skills, even if it took a lot of trial-and-error in the beginning.'_

The teen eggs the beast on, shouting stupid lines like "You _feline_ ready to go home yet?" - "Why are you so _purrsistent?"_ and "I'm not _lion_ when I say I'm getting sick of your shit."

Everyone on the sidelines groan at the obvious, terrible puns Danny tiredly spits at the cat, blasting at its whiskers and tail, riling it up all over again.

Just as the giant spreads its paws out, head down and backside raised ready to pounce, Danny's eyes flash. He sucks in a deep breath and blows out a blast of freezing power over all four paws, completely encasing them in ice. The ice was just beginning to climb up the legs of the animal before he ran out of breath.

He settled back and crossed his arms, satisfied. "See?" He called down, "It's claws can cut through everything sure, but what happens when he can't even move them to try?" He smirks and gestures to the beast, watching at it yowls and tugs once more at its bindings.

"Uh Danny?" Sam calls, her voice sounding uncertain.

"Impressive right?" He responds, oblivious to her turmoil, and lands next to his companions.

Tucker looks between the two teens, worry pulling at his eyebrows. "Actually, Danny, I think Sam is –"

The young halfa finally tears his eyes away from their opponent and shoots a questioning gaze to his friends. "What's up guys?" He seems confused and a little disheartened at their lack of excitement.

"Well…"

Abruptly a bright green glow illuminates their faces and Danny's back. He feels the heat wave and closes his eyes a moment before sighing in resignation. He catches Vlad's eye and the man presses his lips together in a firm, sympathetic grimace.

He turns and sure enough, the lion has melted its front two bindings and is currently contorting itself to claw at the ice encasing its back legs.

"Arggghh!" He groans loudly, "Why are you so impossible!"

"I was _trying_ to remind you about that part…" Sam mutters, arms crossed.

"It was a good idea, Little Badger." Vlad steps forward. "You seem to be very fatigued, are you about ready to call it?"

"No!" Danny straightens up sharply, "Not yet!" He catches the confused looks of his friends and waves a hand dismissively, "Later." He guesses they didn't hear about Vlad's offer.

"Let me try one more thing." He's watching the lion intently but speaking to Vlad. "I have one more thing we've been working on, but it takes a lot out of me."

Sam gasps, grasping his forearm, "Danny you can't! That tires you out on a _good_ day."

Tucker agrees wholeheartedly, slinging a supportive arm over his shoulder, "We haven't fully explored how hard you can push that power, what if it hurts you? Let's not get too hasty, man."

Vlad lifts an eyebrow, watching the exchange. Danny shakes his friends off and drops into a couple stretches, "Just hand me a Fenton Pick-Me-Up. Besides, the last plan almost worked, I just need to make sure he can't use his fire too."

The two groan and Sam stomps over to the backpack, pulling out a glass pop-bottle. Vlad notices the drink has been replaced with a brightly glowing, swirling liquid. As the lid is removed, his nostrils flair at the familiar smell. "What in the devil…?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, Vlad." Danny says quietly, accepting the offered drink and downing it quickly.

Vlad sucks in a harsh breath, not prepared for another use of his name. The spell so carelessly thrown in his face causes him to immediately grow cold as a rather substantial flush of blood heads straight for his dick. He sits down, hard, and pulls his knees up close to his chest to hide the resulting erection and takes a couple desperate breaths through his mouth. The sudden heat all over his body has him sweating in strange places, like behind his knees and under his eyes. He resolutely ignores it all and works hard to mentally detach himself from the spell's clutches before anyone notices.

Danny quirks an eyebrow at him, having never before seen Vlad willingly _sit on the ground_. Vlad quickly flaps a hand towards the lion, "Well?" He quips impatiently, "Get on with it. Let's hope this one works, whatever it is."

Danny laughs and looks back to his friends. Tucker also seems occupied with Vlad sitting in the grass, arms holding his knees in an apparently casual manner and doesn't bother closing his mouth. Sam has moved on already and puts a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Please be careful, okay? You always get excited, take things too far and then just barely survive." She pulls him into a firm hug, "We will always be here to patch you up, just please leave _something_ for us to work with."

Danny laughs and pats the girl's shoulder, "Thanks Sam. Seriously, both of you, thank you for always taking care of me. But we're a team and I need to do _my_ part." He leans back in her arms to look in her eyes, "I'll be fine, the Pick-Me-Up helped a lot." He pinches her cheek and she shakily laughs it off.

Vlad hates the entire encounter. It feels intimate and like this is totally natural, like this kind of sappy shit happens all the time. It boils the blood in his heart, or at least what's left that's not already occupied in his nether regions. He's still battling to control his magical hormones. _'Stupid spell. Stupid Ember. Stupid Freakshow. Stupid Vlad.'_ He repeats this mantra to himself.

Danny nods to his friends and steps backwards, "Here we go!" before launching into the air.

Danny floats directly above the feline, throws his arms wide and lets his ice powers grow and pulse outward. It gradually bleeds from his eyes and fists before finally overflowing and coating his entire being. The teen gradually becomes encased in the beautiful, light blue power, hair whipping and glaringly white. He takes in a very deep, obvious breath and then points his face to the heavens, mouth fallen open and emitting a bright white glow to match his eyes. It's a dazzling and eerie sight to all who behold it.

Like Vlad. Vlad is definitely dazzled.

He watches in awe as Danny unexpectedly rushes upwards, spinning faster and faster, spewing icy gusts from his glowing, open mouth. The gale picks up speed and descends like a biting, arctic tornado, ripping towards the unsuspecting lion and swirling around it harshly. The sheer force of it all knocks the beast's legs out from under it, flattening the feline to the earth and battering it in strong, frosty waves. The vortex whines and growls in ferocity, slowly encasing both beings in a blinding display of snow, wind and light.

Vlad shields his eyes but does his best to not miss a single second, wonder clearly etched deep into his face, red eyes squinting.

The power crescendos into a tight column, the roar of the winds are so loud and strong that he wonders if the two teens behind him are even still standing. But they must have seen this before and knew to expect it. Vlad refuses to tear his attention away even for a second to see what state they are currently in. They can handle themselves.

Just as the noise and light becomes unbearable to even Vlad's super-senses, the power belches a deafening shock wave, blasting the three bystanders back before suddenly cutting out.

The instant silence is almost louder than the power before it. Vlad turns back, allowing his eyes to adjust to the regular lighting again as he takes in the strange sight.

The lion is completely encased in a column of ice. It's mouth open and front right paw lifted, comically frozen in time. Vlad's eyes follow the column upwards, seeing as it ends just below Danny's feet, the teen having a brightly glowing aura but otherwise returned to normal.

He floats, clearly exhausted but smiling happily as he crosses his arms and surveys his handiwork.

The pillar of ice is completely clear, only slightly distorted on the edges. A light snow settles around it and swirls as Danny settles to the ground in front of the creature. He taps the ice with a finger, seemingly satisfied.

Sam stands back up, brushing herself off and smiling in relief.

"Holy shit dude! That was _next level!"_ Tucker whoops, brushing past Vlad to high-five the still glowing halfa and clapping him on the shoulder without a trace of fear. "That was _way_ stronger than anything in our practice runs!"

Sam looks up to Vlad, gently pushes his mouth shut and lightly slaps his cheek before walking to join her friends without another word.

After such a magnificent display of power, Vlad half-expects the teens to be wary of their friend. Danny could so very easily kill them if he wished to, surely, they must feel nervous? But the girl just walks up and snakes an arm around each boy, leaning her head on the Danny's frigid shoulder as the three thoughtfully regard the lion-popsicle. Gentle words of praise and awe hushed between them.

He shakes his head in amazement and slowly joins them, standing a foot off to the side. He can feel Danny's ghost signature throb with excess power as he reigns it in, slowly, comfortably. Vlad can sense how exhausted he is, but content. It's a heady feeling that forces him to calm himself and bask in the second-hand glow.

"Plasmius!"

And just like that, the calm is shattered. Four heads whip to the source, all immediately recognizing the voice.

"…Skulker." Vlad sighs, "I should have suspected this."

Skulker lands beside him, appraising the ice sculpture with amusement, "You captured my quarry, whelp. How now will I enjoy my rest period?"

"I'm sorry _, what?"_ Tucker shakes his head, "'Rest Period?'" he does a double-take, "And what's with the _shirt?"_

Skulker has a bright purple palm-tree patterned shirt hanging loosely over his metal frame. There are sunglasses clipped into the breast pocket which Vlad knows for a fact that are completely unnecessary with his recent upgrades, they are there simply for the look.

Sam narrows her eyes and hisses through clenched teeth, _"You_ released the lion?"

Skulker hums affirmative as he traces a gloved palm over the smooth ice. "Wonderful planning, humans! The claws can pierce any armour in the world, but render them immobile? Genius! And the fire breath can't cause damage if the mouth can't move! Wonderful!" He laughs loudly, completely at ease.

Sam seems to be barely holding in her temper. It's become quite the volatile thing with her age. "I'm sorry, back up. Hold up. _WHAT?!_ You took the most invincible creature in _myth and legend_ and released it _here? Why?"_ Her voice lowers dangerously, "And what do you mean by ' _rest period?'_

Skulker shrugs, "Let Plasmius explain, I grow bored of your drama." With that, the mecha-ghost lifts off and begins digitally scanning the ice block, poking and prodding with various instruments from his armour.

' _He assumes I know how to calm these fools down, does he not realize I've been attempting that for nearly_ four years _now?'_ Vlad internally frets. He coughs and gestures awkwardly to Skulker, "Well I gave him vacation time and I… assume… this is how he meant to… enjoy himself?" He didn't intend on making that statement such a weak question but watching Skulker operate in all seriousness while wearing a _fucking Hawaiian button-up_ over his suit was just plain _strange._ And were those _socks and sandals?_ How did he make new footwear to look like feet? And why _socks?_ Does he assume that's standard human _fashion?_

"He usually hunts when I give him time off…" Vlad's explanation peeters out, the absurdity too much for him to continue.

"So he thought grabbing one of _Hercules's labours_ from _legend_ would be a great way to _kill some time?"_ Tucker scoffs, surprise quickly being replaced with irritation. "Could he have at least done this _elsewhere?_ Like _away_ from civilians?"

Danny steps forward after watching the exchange unfold. He laughs. Honest to goodness _laughs._ Bless his soul. "So Skulk thinks vacation-time equals hunting legendary myths? Why does this _not_ surprise me at all?" He laughs and shakes his head, grinning and watching the mecha-ghost unfurl a giant net and fit it over the ice column very seriously. Eyes glistening with humour, hand resting subconsciously on the bleeding rips in his sides.

"Uhh-" Vlad can't help watching the boy laugh, taken by the way Danny so easily dismisses the abnormal. Just how much bullshit can one child be exposed to to react like this? He's clearly been in more tussles with his little friends than Vlad has come to expect.

He corrects his throat loudly and calls to Skulker, watching the ghost land solidly beside him and cause the teens to stare in wary caution.

"What is it, Plasmius?"

"Are you taking your quarry back to the Ghost Zone?"

Skulker hums, "Yes, I have appreciated the whelp's insight on catching this prey, but I still haven't caught it for _myself._ I am yet unsatisfied with the hunt."

Tucker snorts and rolls his eyes at Sam, who huffs indignantly but keeps a hand loosely hovering at her bangle-gun. Good girl, stay suspicious.

"Then please take it now and do not dawdle."

Just as Skulker nods and readies to leap into the air, Danny grabs his arm, mirth gone. The ghost pauses curiously and waits, shooting Vlad a look before returning his attention to the teen.

"Skulker." He starts. "Before you go…"

Danny looks up, grip firm on the metal arm and green eyes flashing dangerously, "This better be your last warning."

The green-haired ghost scoffs and yanks his arm from the teen's grasp, "And how many times have you said _that line,_ whelp? Your empty threats grow boring and pitiful." The ghost draws himself upright and puffs his chest out, "I will do as I please."

The reaction is instantaneous. Danny honest-to-goodness _growls_ and lets off a frozen, rolling wave of warning and anger. Leftover energy from before nips painfully at the edges of the subconscious like the beginnings of frostbite. Skulker takes a step back and shoots a look towards Vlad.

"Plasmius?" He implores his boss, hoping for some backup.

Vlad ignores the looks he gets from the teens and crosses his arms, "Don't be a simpleton, Skulker. You just witnessed all of…" he waves a hand to encompass the frozen beast, _"that_ , and you still hold stubborn to your hunt? You know full well the rules that which Phantom has set for all of you. I would suggest you make yourself and your prey scarce." Vlad turns his back on his underling, "And enjoy your hunts in the Ghost Zone from now on. I should think it safer for _everyone_ involved."

Skulker pauses and then _laughs,_ "Yes! Now _this_ is exciting!"

Vlad whirls back to watch Skulker pop open a forearm and cock a deadly looking shotgun. Grimly, Vlad recognizes the weapon and dreads facing it, and all its explosive glory - especially tired. "Must we –" Vlad begins, quickly changing tracks at an attempt to be diplomatic.

Danny steps forward, a hand thrown out to cut Vlad off and gently push him back. "Allow me." He says, never taking his eyes from the ghost. Vlad steps back willingly, the chill still rolling off Danny is slightly painful anyway.

"Skulker, the deal we have is that no one causes mayhem in town and you won't be immediately sucked into a thermos and shot into the 'Zone. Did you forget that?"

"This is my _vacation,_ whelp! I will do with it as I please, your rules don't apply here. Besides, the beast got sidetracked by civilians, an honest mistake."

"This isn't a mistake. You let a dangerous animal out to-"

"Call it what you will, I can't imagine you're going to punish me here ghost-child. Especially after expending such an enormous amount of energy." He leers at the teen, eyes flashing with challenge.

Danny pauses, Vlad knows that if he threatens him that'll only excite Skulker. He knows Danny knows this. He _hopes_ Danny will just let this go.

"No. You're right, I won't punish you Skulker." Vlad lets out a breath of relief. Skulker smirks. "But!" He holds up a finger, "I will tell everyone that's in on this deal that you _intentionally_ fucked it up and ruined it for them. You break it for everyone, not just you." Danny crosses his arms, "Imagine how happy they all would be to get revenge on you for that." He gets right up in Skulker's face, "You like the hunt? How about being hunted by everyone in the 'Zone for something so stupid?" His voice drops down to a deadly quiet, "Can you outrun and outlive everybody? _Forever?"_

Skulker's fire hair dies down a bit and his eyes widen. That would be disastrous. Gone would be his freedom and truces with the other ghosts. Clearly Plasmius wouldn't side with him either, so no more protection there. No one would dare help him and suffer the same fate.

He lowers his gaze in shame, it's absolute torture for him to admit defeat, no matter the benefit. "You are manipulative, whelp, I see now why Plasmius likes you so much."

The halfas stiffen and avoid eye contact while the humans snort and snicker in surprise, wiggling their eyebrows with wide grins. Skulker carries on like he didn't just deliver a distressing line so offhandedly, "By your leave?" He addresses Danny, never once looking Vlad's way. The ghost had never disregarded his boss like that before, Vlad definitely has some damage control to do later.

Danny gestures for him to carry on, "By all means Skulk, enjoy your vacation."

Skulker turns, picks up his netted ice-block and high-tails it out of there without another word.

Silence.

Then Tucker smiles and calls Danny back for a high-five. Danny loops backwards and delivers, ruffling Sam's hair in the process and pissing her off.

Vlad moves forward and watches the teens apprehensively, "Ah, I did not realize he would be so… stupid." He begins slowly.

Tucker and Sam cross their arms at the same time, which would've been funny in a different scenario. "He's kind of an idiot, but you obviously didn't tell him to do this." Tucker points out.

"Yes, my employee and his strange obsession is something I am quite intimate with. Expecting him to understand what a 'vacation' is seems to have been too trusting. I apologize."

All three stare at him in awe, clearly not used to him admitting guilt.

Vlad turns away to watch the first-responders arrive and work silently for a moment, wondering if he should just leave or if he has to have his talk with Danny now. He's committed himself to telling him but really, this night was already exhausting what with the fight, the clones and the powers. He's strong but that was all so sudden.

"Vlad?"

There's also _that._ Too many more of those and he will be put into quite the compromising situation.

The name shakes him to his core, and he shudders, keeping himself facing away from the teens as he aggressively wills himself to calm down. His head pounds and every surface on his body shines with perspiration. He clenches his jaw and imagines all the darkest, most horrible things he can to help control this stupid spell. _'Stupid Ember. Stupid Freakshow. Stupid Vlad.'_

The nice moment he was enjoying has completely dwindled away and is replaced by shame and anxiety for the conversation to come. His shoulders hunch and he turns his head slightly to acknowledge the boy.

A pause, "Thank you for your help today."

Vlad's shoulders slacken in surprise and he breathes out a shaky laugh. "I've never done anything like that before. Usually I'm at the _cause_ of the mayhem... to see it first hand in all it's confusion and hopelessness was… sobering."

He surveys the wreckage a moment longer and puts his hands in his pockets (to help hide the lingering physical answer to the spell) before turning to Danny, attention drifting to how his eyes seem to sparkle in the flashing blue and red lights. Those bright green iris's never seem to dull or lose their intensity. Vlad watches Danny watch him for a moment.

"He uh, shielded us too." Sam adds helpfully, hiding a smile when she startles both half-ghosts from their thoughts.

Danny sounds surprised to hear this and turns to his friends, "What really? When?"

After a brief explanation, Danny tuts, "You guys _weren't_ paying attention during a fight? I'm surprised with both of you."

They sputter a bit before blaming Vlad for suddenly showing up and not trusting him, they were distracted! You have to admit it looked bad.

Danny hums and turns back to Vlad, watching him a moment. "Why _did_ you show up?"

Vlad feels his cheeks prickle and coughs daintily into his fist before launching into an excuse, voice much higher than intended, "Oh, I was in the neighbourhood..." _to talk to you about this insufferable spell_ , "I heard the explosion and felt compelled to investigate who would kick up a fuss in _my_ town." _That_ I _haven't orchestrated in some way._ "It's been a while since someone stepped out of line so spectacularly." _That_ wasn't _me._

Danny watches him and grins, it unnerves Vlad how much that little action speeds up his heart-rate. _'Stupid, stupid spell. This is just side affects from his verbal cue earlier._ '

He ignores the little voice in his head saying anything otherwise.

"You were at my house." Danny announces happily.

"Ah well, you were rather adamant in class about the a-appointment... I assumed not showing up would be hurtful and or insulting."

He draws himself up and prepares to admit his shameful spell to the teens. He clears his throat and wrings his hands, unsure where to start. _'Jesus Christ I can come up with long-winded speeches on the fly but I can't admit one stupid thing to this ridiculous teenager?'_ He internally rages at himself and pinches the bridge of his nose. _'How do I even begin? Should I explain the plan first? He'll be so angry after hearing about the spell that he may not even bother to find out_ why _I did it. Then again, the_ why _is just as bad as the_ what...'

He looks past Danny to his two best friends, watching them slowly pack up their equipment, doing their best to eavesdrop without looking like they were. He gently pulls on Danny's elbow, "Come here a moment," and leads him away from his friends.

He steps away from Danny and crosses his arms, staring thoughtfully at the teen. _'If I were to tell him right now, I would lose any trust I may have gained here today. How can I word this gently? 'Oh yes, funny story, I paid criminals to bend your mind.' He'd think I'm crazy still. Call me a typical Fruitloop. Maybe even fight me.'_ Vlad looks away, realizing he's been staring silently for too long, battling with his thoughts. _'Honesty is his rule in this. He's said that much. He may appreciate how hard this is for me… What am I thinking, he'll appreciate my death once he finds out what I've done.'_ Vlad sighs, massaging his temples with his fingers and does his best to fight off the very real headache he's giving himself. _  
_

A hand on his good shoulder and a gentle voice at his side brings him out of his back-and-forth, "Vlad?"

Vlad plays the sudden jerk to attention his body gives off as being startled. Everything burns hot then cold. His body throbs with tingles of arousal in all his nerve endings and he savagely fights off a very real growl/moan. Even just the slightest whine would be picked up by Danny's super-hearing, it's bad enough he can probably hear Vlad's stuttering heartbeat. He can't have Danny say his name even once more, he's losing his goddamned mind trying to hold himself together. Almost afraid to look, he pulls his hand away from his face and peers over his shoulder.

Danny gives him such a gentle, encouraging smile that it breaks his heart. This, this young man right here, is the picture of innocence and trust. _'I'm a fucking monster.'_

"We're gonna go." Danny points a thumb over his shoulder, taking a step backwards, towards his friends.

That definitely startles the man out of his self-deprecating spiral. "Huh?" He will deny for the rest of his days that he ever made such an undignified noise. "But I… I thought you…" He recovers himself and looks between Danny and his friends, "Isn't there something you wished to discuss?" He hesitantly asks, barely loud enough to be heard.

Danny just shakes his head. "I can _see_ how hard this is for you. It doesn't need to happen tonight. Take your time. Please. I meant it when I said that things can change between us. And that offer doesn't have a time limit. Just… look you did great tonight. You helped us, you helped those people trapped in the mall. And you didn't _have to_ , I really didn't expect it." Danny looks away, eyes moving as he thinks about his next words. "I know I kind of rush into everything I do without thinking ahead," He starts, sheepishly, "But _you_ don't. You think _everything_ through, plan _every_ little detail. You and I work differently. I get that." He looks at his friends, they stare back at him wide eyed but slowly nod.

Danny turns back to Vlad and asks him very seriously, "This _thing_ , this _secret_ … does it hurt anyone?"

"Oh, erm, _no._ " He fumbles, _'Not really…'_

Danny tilts his head, _"Will it_ hurt someone?"

"…No" Vlad confirms out loud, _'Not physically…'_

Danny breathes out like he was holding it in. "Okay, that's good. Probably should've asked that first…" He mutters mostly to himself before straightening up, "Alright, then yeah. Don't stress about it. You can tell me when you're ready. Until then…" He walks to his friends and puts an arm around each waist.

Tucker looks back to Vlad uncertainly, "You think it's okay to just leave like this?"

"I think things will be okay now Tuck." Danny reassures, smile clear in his voice. Danny launches them into the air and flies away.

Vlad stares after him, face blank.

' _He is much too forgiving.'_ Vlad thinks grimly, _'Well now, I guess it's time to celebrate…'_

He finally has what he wants.

Danny trusts him. It may not be 100% but he has lowered his guard and is not pressing to know his plans. This is everything he dared hope for.

His stomach twists in confusion. He won, but he doesn't much feel like celebrating.


	9. Chapter 9

Note: Hellooooo everybody! I sketched out my story plan today (a little late but meh) and there will be 13 chapters to this fic. Note this is only chapter 9 *wiggles eyebrows*

Also thanks for sticking by and waiting patiently for my insanely long breaks between updates, not gonna lie, I got heavily invested in the South Park fandom. So once I'm done here, and updated No Shame a few times and finished my Bleach fic Wrong Number (and mayyybe re-write Blind Date Blues because it was written forever and a half ago and I feel I've developed past that mess as a writer) then I will begin hopping between South Park and Danny Phantom. I have like 3 more fleshed out ideas I'd like to explore with good ol' Danny here before I feel I've wrung him dry, then it'll just be little ficlets ... anywho, I'm rambling. Enjoy my latest chapter I spent all day working on.

* * *

(Don't) Say My Name – Chapter 9

* * *

"Does Phantom have a death wish?!"

"I told ya! Whenever something interesting happens around here, Babypop ain't far behind."

Freakshow shakes his head in exasperation, watching the unbelievable scene unfold before them. "And he just throws himself at every stray that wanders by? Does he have a hero-complex or something?"

Ember gives a very unladylike snort, "That's the exact same thing everyone keeps saying about him! You catch on quick."

They dip further behind the smashed parked car currently shielding them just as a stray spray of green ghost flame singes the pavement at their feet.

Danny suddenly hurtles directly over their heads and Ember quickly grabs Freakshow's elbow, turning them invisible. The halfa rights himself and shakes his head, "Alright then, guess you don't wanna talk."

The hidden spectators watch in silence as the teen makes a fist, allowing power to pulsate and brighten from within his grasp. The darkening shadows of the late day sun sharply contrast with the bright green seep out his fingers, turning the dips and creases over his thoughtful smirk into something much more sinister.

"So how about we dance instead?" He taunts, before flinging himself back at the ghostly cat.

"…That child is frightening."

"Yeahhh, he's a little freak like that sometimes."

They watch as Danny flings increasingly stronger ecto-blasts at the beast, yet nothing sticks or even causes the creature pause.

"Shit, even _I_ felt the power off that one." Ember shudders, "How is this lion so _strong?"_

Freakshow hums, "I've no idea, my dear. Perhaps it's special somehow?"

Headlights trail over their position (Ember quick to ensure they remain hidden from sight) as a car screeches to halt at the mouth of the parking lot. Tucker and Sam spill out and rush to the edge of the battle.

Freakshow hisses, "I remember those two, those brats still associate with Phantom?"

"Pfft, of course." Ember laughs, "Those three together make an unstoppable force. I swear the kid wouldn't be half as tough without them."

"Oh reeeeeallyyyyy?" Freakshow drawls, eyes glinting with plans.

Ember whacks him on the head, literally smacking the look right off of his face. He sputters in surprise, speechless.

"Stop it! They are off-limits!" Ember growls, pointing one ghostly finger at the man's forehead, "You can fuck with literally _any_ one else but do NOT mess with these three. I mean it!" She pokes the pointing finger between his eyes, hard, attempting to physically drill her threat into his skull.

Freakshow swats the hand away, "Cut that out, girl! I am a free man now. I can target whomever I please!"

"Umm no, suckboy, you _can't."_ She rolls her eyes and turns back to the battle, but explains, "There's a truce in Amity: you can go about your business here and not have any problems from _him"_ she nods at Danny, "but you can't hurt anybody. Whatever you do with your life, you _cannot_ do whatever his little hero-complex interprets as _mean_ to the public _._ If you do, then he whoops your ass and the truce is off, for _everyone."_

"I _know._ I was _there_ when we got the explanation from that ridiculous Technoose Two-Point- _Whatever."_ He cuts her off moodily as Ember attempts to correct the butchering of the ghost's name, "But! I am neither ghost _nor_ part of this truce."

They instinctively dodge and reach for each other as a parked car lands behind them, belly up and smoking. They peer over the edge of their thankfully unharmed vehicle and watch as Danny takes a stand directly in front of the shopping mall entrance, arm flung up in defence and teeth gritted. His arm is bleeding profusely, yet they never heard him shout in pain.

The faces pressed against the glass from within the mall suddenly puts the teen's defensive stance into perspective. He allowed himself to be hurt in order to protect the citizens, both invisible spectators groan at the heroics.

Ember glances between their current hiding spot – a tiny sports car – and the increasingly more attractive sturdiness of a full-sized family van a little further back. She roughly grabs Freakshow and hauls him to its more desirable safety before turning to glare at him, "Well what if you hanging around with _me_ lumps you in with us ghosts?"

Freakshow frowns, "That hardly seems fair, to either you _or_ me."

They watch as Sam and Tucker gear up with a few weapons, Sam fussing with her jewellery and slipping much too many combat knives within her clothes while Tucker waves a gun in greeting at Danny. The teen gives a quick two-fingered salute with his good hand before returning his attention the fight.

"I so did _not_ get released from jail to enjoy my freedom by running from everyone in the Ghost Zone and Danny-Fucking- _Phantom_ because you fucked it all up for me, Freak." She tears her gaze away from the halfa and his creepy glowing blue eyes to stare at her companion imploringly. "Please?" She rests a hand on his shoulder and gives it a gentle shake.

Freakshow sighs and scrubs a hand down his face, "Fine. _Fine!"_ He relents exasperated, "Ruin my plans before they even start…" He gives her a quick side smirk before staring straight ahead, "But _only_ because I was looking forward to working with you in Florida, alright? I just don't want to sour this budding partnership."

Ember beams at him and gives him a side hug which is very awkward considering their crouching states. "Awww! Freeeak~"

"Hush, ghost." His half-hearted attempt at hiding his returning smile falters and turns to alarm, "I-is he lobbing _snowballs_ at the lion right now?"

Ember stares with her mouth hanging open, at a loss for words.

The worst part of it all is the snowballs are _actually causing a reaction._ Finally. Even if it just causes the giant feline to shake its head in irritation. It's _some_ thing.

Tucker and Sam burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all, Ember and Freakshow struggling to remain quiet themselves.

"I guess the core powers are a little more effective than the normal stuff!" Danny calls, unnecessarily.

Sam gives a thumbs up, "Give ice a try now!" She turns to the friend at her side, "Tucker, how about you do a little research? Something to do with lions and how to calm them down?"

Tucker nods and pokes his ear, prompting a blue holographic screen to project ahead of himself, "I'll see what I can find on core-related fighting too. There's a couple professional ghost-hunter groups in other countries that I talk with pretty frequently, they might have some ideas too."

As he types away, Ember stares in wonder at the technology the boy so nonchalantly processes. Freakshow is much more interested in Sam's backpack, watching as she pulls out and assembles a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun with delicate glowing green bullets and leans it against a tree.

Both teenagers have moved back to the edge of the parking lot, allowing more space for Danny to work with his ferocious competitor. They seem to operate like a well-oiled machine, used to the drama of civilian life in danger and moving with confidence. Freakshow points this observation out and Ember agrees that these kids have clearly seen too much battle.

"They would do well in the armed forces, I believe." He muses.

Ember's ponytail sways as she shakes her head, "No way. I mean, I _agree_ with you that they'd be good but they would never join the military. These three? They're way too 'good-guy.' They'd _never_ be able to fight humans, let alone _kill_ anyone. Jesus Christ, just _saying_ that felt wrong." She chuckles at herself and Freakshow looks at her in surprise.

"That's a very good point - very insightful. You really are quite intelligent, McClain."

"Flattery gets you everywhere." She playfully nudges him, "But I wonder if you meant that like you were expecting me to be dumb _because_ I'm dead?"

"Well you wound up _dead,_ didn't you?" He nudges her back. He grins at her pout, "And yes, truthfully I was led to believe ghosts are mindless animals. We had a couple low-level ghosts haunting my home as a child that we used to prank, so you can understand where I'm –"

Danny has iced the ground, tripping up the lion and without realizing it, freezing his audience to the pavement. Ember quickly phases them through the trap and they carefully settle back down on the frosty ground in quiet amusement.

The lion roars indignantly and scrabbles for purchase as Danny quickly lashes some ecto ropes all over its body. He restrains it's four feet together and the poor beats topples over, yowling and spitting flame-laced breath at the floating teenager.

Danny laughs and somersaults to dodge the flame, exchanging high-fives with his friends. Tucker shuts off his computer and Sam sighs regrettably towards her unused shotgun.

"That was fast." Freakshow murmurs, watching the girl sadly tear apart her shotgun once again, "I wonder how they plan to deal with this h- OW _what in the devil…?"_

He suddenly is being battered in the arm by Ember, the girl flapping for his attention and accidentally smacking him in the ear a few times. Freakshow prepares to smack her right back when he notices the look of utter concentration on her face and follows her line of sight.

The lion is wiggling his toes and carefully lines up a claw with the ropes.

"Oh?"

 _Slice!_

Within seconds the lion is up and roaring, shaking out it's mane and dashing in the opposite direction of Danny and his friends.

"Oh!"

Danny notices and curses low before throwing himself into the air, chasing the cat down. He throws himself onto the mane and wraps his arms around its giant head and heaving backwards with all his might. He lets out a loud groan of effort as the lion thrashes and twists, trying desperately to shake him off.

Danny doesn't relent, he just twists with the movements before suddenly veering hard to the left. In an unbelievable show of sheer strength and determination, he pulls the lion over and flips it onto its side.

The thud that shudders through the pavement shakes up the legs of both his secret observers.

"Jesus _fuck!_ Did that just happen?!" Ember exclaims in a breathy whisper. Freakshow stares at the unbelievable sight, slowly nodding his head but otherwise speechless.

Danny, having taken some of the lion's weight in the fall, grunts and slowly rises, standing over his foe and panting.

But cats are agile - even giant, dead ones - apparently.

Its eyes open wide and it howls loudly, kicking its back legs in a wild panic to get upright NOW.

One spastic leg claw catches the teen by surprise, hooking into his already injured arm and side and slicing up and out like he isn't even there. He winces and phases, too late, before hopping into the air painfully.

He touches around the wound daintily, taking in the ripped material and flesh beneath. He grimaces and waves to the concerned shout of his friends that he's fine.

Suddenly he freezes and looks up, "Guys?!"

"What?!" Sam calls back, fear flashing in her eyes, "What's wrong?!"

Danny hovers a hand over his wound, and the other over his forehead, "I'm so dizzy… I – I think I have… _cat-scratch-fever!"_

Ember snorts before hiding her mouth behind a fist, eyes rolling with the effort. Freakshow furrows his brows between the groaning humans, smiling half-ghost and the ghost girl at his side, "Care to explain?"

She shakes her head, "He's making a joke. A bad one. Kid's fine." She waves her hand at him dismissively.

"Hmph." Freakshow decides he needs to update his worldly knowledge before attempting any more world domination plans. He can't very well rule over people he can't understand!

Danny smiles and winces, accidentally turning too quickly. He looks at the feline below himself and begins making a face of deep concentration. Its not a good look on the kid, Freakshow observes wryly, "He looks constipated."

Then suddenly there's _two_ Phantoms and Freakshow takes back any other humourous comments he was about to make.

"Since when can he do _that?!"_ Ember blurts out in disbelief.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, my dear."

The two Dannys lob ecto-blast after ecto-blast at the lion, flying in circles and attempting to confuse it. The only thing he did was confuse everyone watching as to who was the clone and who was the original.

Just as they both power up an ice-ball each, the lion chooses that time to strike, a pouncing and slashing ball of fury. Danny is quick to drop his power-up and roll a dodge. But the lion is quicker, learning his maneuvers and turning its head to snap, fast as a cobra, sinking its teeth deep into Danny's neck.

The boy screams and convulses, both friends crying out in alarmed dismay before the bitten Danny ripples out of view.

It was the clone. What a stroke of luck.

Danny shudders, sloppily throwing the gathered energy ball at the lion before holding his neck in distress. Apparently, he feels what the clones feel? How interesting.

He lands near his friends and they each pat his shoulder with sympathy. "That was awesome dude, he lasted so long this time!"

"Yeah Danny, that one was a big improvement." Sam agrees, keeping an eye on the lion as it sniffs at the spot the clone disappeared from.

"Thank guys, but it really took a lot out of me. Whew! I don't think I can do another clone today, I'm winded!" He pants, watching the lion as well. "Probably shouldn't have tried that, to be honest." He chuckles sheepishly.

His friends nod in reluctant agreement. Danny takes a deep breath, claps his hands together and jumps into the air, "Well, let's see what else I can do here…" And with that, he's back to dancing around his opponent.

Sam turns and speaks with Tucker about something as Freakshow turns to Ember, "Do you think there's a poss-"

"Oh." Ember cuts him off, grinning wide and nodding to something behind him. He turns and sucks in a breath.

" _Finally."_

They pause and watch, thoroughly entertained as the teens confront and accuse a very confused and wary Vlad Masters decked out in Plasmius form.

"Was that – did she just, _throw a rock_ _at him?"_

"Pffft! Yeah! Oh my god, I _love_ that girl!"

A stray ecto-blast laced with chilly core power flies near their spot and they turn to witness Danny ice the tip of the lion's tail to the pavement, tethering it in place. Needless to say, this did not please said lion. Danny then very quickly aims both palms over the feline's head, creating a frozen prison to settle over it in the shape of a dome. As the power fades, he takes in another deep breath and does it again, creating another layer over the first.

Each layer seems to cost quite a bit of stamina, and Freakshow wonders for not the first time how a ghost's core powers must cost different levels of energy versus their regular powers. They silently stare as layer after layer, Danny takes longer and longer to build the frozen trap.

He heaves a deep breath, forehead shining with perspiration, blood still oozing from his side as he shakily finishes the last layer of ice. The quality is much shabbier in comparison to the first one, this one rough and uneven in spots. Freakshow seriously doubts the child can handle anything else core-related today.

Danny only takes a second to ensure the ice will hold before giving a quick nod to himself and flying back towards his friends.

* * *

"Well… that was… spectacular." Freakshow states rather sarcastically.

They sit across from each other at the Nasty Burger, empty wrappers and drink cups in front of them both. Ember lounges in the booth, staring out the window with a frown on her face, "Yeah, no shit." She glances back at her companion before watching the faceless teenagers outside goof around. "I think the word you meant to say was 'intense' or 'crazy' or something with the word 'fuck' in it." Ember scoffs, one hand supporting her head.

"… I get the feeling you aren't talking about the food, my dear."

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, watching as one teenager slings an arm around his friend, laughing along at something said between them. "I'm talking 'bout our resident Boy Wonder: Snow Cone Unlimited."

Freakshow squawks a surprised laugh and Ember finally faces him properly, smile on her face. She leans forward excitedly, "That power was insane though! What even _was_ that?"

Freakshow hums, "I never realized he was so powerful, I should have tried harder when I had him under my influence."

Ember digs into her drink and throws an ice cube at the thoughtful look on her companion's face, "Oh _shut up._ " She groans good-naturedly, _"Everyone_ says that."

They sit in silence a while longer, mulling over the incredible fight they witnessed, just trying to process it all.

"So, could you feel the power rolling off of him at the end there, or was that just a ghost thing?" Ember finally asks curiously.

Freakshow shudders, his answer redundant to her now but he vocalizes it anyway, "I definitely felt it."

He swishes his drink a bit, lost in thought before his lips pull into a nasty smirk. Ember watches his face twist and joins him with a toothy show herself, "Plasmius?"

"Plasmius." He confirms.

She laughs, "Oh boy, that poor, poor man." She shakes her head, "He is _so_ dead when the twerp figures out this spell."

Freakshow frowns at that, leaning back and crossing his arms, "Oh? But you know what Daniel said, he doesn't _want_ to know anymore."

"Pfft, yes he does."

"Oh? Do tell."

"He definitely still wants to know, I'm sure the curiosity is _killing_ him. But," she holds up a solitary finger, "His bleeding heart is just too kind. Old Timer almost cracked and spilled right there today; he was fully expecting to lay it all out there. To Babypop, that's just as good as the confession itself. He probably thinks he can change the man or something dumb like that by giving him the benefit of the doubt. Second chances, blah blah. Make him a good guy that goes to church and shit." They both scoff at the outrageous thought.

"So what do you recommend?" Freakshow tilts his head and gestures with a hand, "Because I don't know about you, but I am eager to get on with my life. We can't follow these two around forever."

"You're absolutely right. So that's why _we_ will tell him," she announces triumphantly, "tomorrow. We give ol' Plasy-pants the chance to man up and if he's still a goddamned coward then _we_ move in for the kill." She slams a fist into her palm. "Then the fireworks go off and we sit back and enjoy the show!"

Freakshow cackles in glee, "Ah yes, I do love fireworks."

* * *

Vlad stares out at the milling teenagers laughing and going about their business, all of them completely unaware of the contemplative red eyes watching them from the roof of their school.

' _How do I always do this to myself?'_ He thinks miserably, _'Every plan I ever come up with involving Daniel always ends with Karma biting me in some painful or embarrassing way. Is this Fate?'_ He muses over the idea of a greater power meddling with his life _'It would be so nice to be able to blame all of this trouble on someone else. To say it was simply not meant to be."_ He shudders, _'But that gives another being power over me… no, that won't do. This is MY life, MY choices… as idiotic as they may be sometimes…'_

He sighs, wondering if he should attempt to locate Ember and Freakshow and get them to cease the spell. _'I have what I want now, after all. Danny won't be a problem if he trusts me and is so willing to put the past behind us… There's no sense in having the teenager forcibly lusting after his parents' college friend anymore.'_ He cringes at the thought. _'What a mess.'_

"Ahem."

Vlad whirls around, raising one gloved hand and powering up an ecto-blast before even setting eyes on his opponent.

"Daniel!"

' _Not opponent. Relax Vladimir.'_

He quickly releases his energy and lifts his hands in surrender, taking a step back, "Ah, sorry Daniel. You startled me."

Danny rubs his forehead and Vlad reminds himself to refrain from accidentally setting off the spell again. Yet the teenager has no idea he should do the same, or why. Vlad grits his teeth, knowing that any prolonged conversation here will be detrimental for him.

"It's okay, old habits die hard." Danny grins, relaxing his own defensive stance and settling his feet to the roof of the building.

There's an awkward pause as Vlad waits for him to say something, anything. Finally, he coughs and says, "I'm surprised you found me up here."

"Oh, well I just used my Ecto-Location."

Vlad pauses, thinks about it, pauses again, "I'm sorry, what?"

Danny laughs, quick and light and it pulls a corner of Vlad's own mouth up in response, "Oh I got a new power. It works like echo-location but, ya know, I had to give it a _ghostly_ name because Tuck said it wasn't cool to sound like dolphins or something. So yeah, Ecto-Location." He explains rapid-fire.

Vlad chuckles at the enthusiasm and takes a few steps forward, "So how did you discover this ability?"

"Oh, totally by accident. We were goofing around one night, seeing who could hit the highest note in this song we were listening to and then my ghost powers sort of bled into my voice." Danny sits down with a laugh, "Sam was so worried I was gonna Ghostly Wail her house down, so we had to go outside!"

Vlad copies the movement without realizing it, sitting down and crossing his legs opposite the teenager.

Danny continues, "So there we were, in the dark, Tucker called it cheating but Sam kept pushing me to go higher and higher. Eventually I closed my eyes to really get into it," he closes his eyes as well for emphasis. "Then I made this like, chirp sound and the whole park was there, bouncing back at me. I had to check that my eyes were still closed, it was bizarre."

"What did it look like?" Vlad breathes, barely louder than a whisper.

Danny cracks his eyes open and smiles at the utter fascination on Vlad's face, "It was like looking at a picture of the park, but with no light on. Everything was dark colours on dark colours. But I could _see_ it all - with my eyes closed!"

Vlad leans back, laughing in awe, "That is very impressive, Dan-" He cuts himself off before finishing the name.

Danny doesn't seem to notice, he bounces up to his knees, eyes shining, "But that's not the best part! If I'm near a ghost when I do it then I _see them._ Like they glow their core colour." His fingers wiggle wide to emphasize his point.

Vlad stares a moment, trying to process but failing, "I having trouble understanding, what do you mean by that?"

"Well I don't see the _ghost_ , but I see this like point of light that represents them. The colour of it depends on the ghost's personal colour." He looks back and forth between Vlad's eyes, watching for understanding before sitting back on his bottom. "Like the other day, I found Ember and Freakshow at the school. Well, I only saw Ember but her core colour was this teal colour that matches her hair and powers."

"…Did you know it was her right away?" Vlad asks, ignoring how his heart hammers at the mention of those two particular names.

"Oh yeah, there's no mistaking a ghost through my Ecto-Location. It's super obvious who everyone is, it's almost like a _feeling_." Danny frowns and shrugs, "It's hard to explain."

Vlad hums in thought, totally blindsided by this revelation. _'I wonder if I have this power somewhere within me as well…'_

"So anyways, I got Technus and Boxy to help me practise so I can get quicker at it. Now any time someone shows up and I have a chance, I use it. Its super helpful, there's no more guesswork when someone hides from me."

"So that's how you found me," Vlad muses, _'I never would've thought of that myself,'_ he thinks. "You really are incredible." He says with a grin before freezing, realizing he just uttered that _out loud._

Danny startles before giggling at the look of utter horror crossing Vlad's features, "Careful _Plasmius,"_ the teen teases him, "you almost sounded sincere there."

Vlad, eternally grateful for the younger halfa's name choice, forces a chuckle, "Duly noted, _Phantom."_

' _I_ was _sincere though, wasn't I?'_

They lapse into awkward silence, both wondering how to keep this conversation going.

Vlad clears his throat and attempts the classic ice-breaker, "So, come here often?"

Danny laughs at the stupidity before remembering that's typically used as a pick up line. He ducks his head and attempts to forget that thought before answering shyly, "Y-yeah, actually." He eyes his companion for a moment, "But you don't, so what's up?"

"Truthfully? I came for privacy. I have a lot on my mind lately and figured it could use some sorting out."

Danny leaps to his feet, "Shit, sorry. Want me to leave? I know how important those self talks are."

Vlad quickly gets to his feet too, wondering when he decided to sit down in the first place. "Not at all, please stay." For some reason he finds himself unwilling to part with his company, "I rather enjoy your presence." He says quickly, before realizing he should just stick his foot in his mouth sooner rather than later.

Danny's mouth drops open in surprise, "Really? That's... new."

Vlad softens at the statement and turns away, staring unseeing into the distance of their town. "No, it isn't, Little Badger. Not to me."

He gets no response from the one behind him, and sighs. _'He seriously believes I despise him.'_

"Do you honestly think I came to Amity Park to play with you all those years ago because I _hated_ you?" He turns back to Danny abruptly, seeing the frown mar the beautiful young face and wishing it away, "Nonsense! I find our little sparring sessions invigorating and enlightening." He smiles.

"'Play with me?' 'Sparring?'" Danny takes a step back and tilts his head, eyes widening, "…You thought … that was _sparring?"_ He seems close to hysterical at the thought.

"Er, well... yes?" Vlad questions a little confused, "I'm not about to use full power on you when you're just starting out! That would've been just plain rude!" Vlad wonders where the teen is going with this.

"You weren't using full power?! ' _Sparring?!'"_ He visibly pales and if it weren't poor timing Vlad might've made a joke about looking like he's seen a ghost.

But Vlad is starting to see the issue, "Oh Daniel... did you think we were fighting for _real?"_

Danny just stares at him with his pretty green eyes blown wide open, lips stretched open in a small 'o' shape.

Vlad thinks back to the teenager's behaviour during their encounters and smirks, "Wait, you thought all those times that you were _besting_ me?" He tries to swallow his mirth but a few chuckles escape, nonetheless.

"...well you don't have to be so smug about it..." Danny mutters, red-faced and kicking the ground.

Vlad holds his hands up in peace, "I'm not! Trust me, I'm not. I'm just ah, surprised?" He bites his lip and grins down at the adorable blush crawling across Danny's face.

"Yeah well I'm pretty embarrassed right about now..." He sulks before squinting back at the man, "Just how much were you holding back anyway?"

"Ah well, we don't need to get into specifics." Vlad trails off, not wanting to offend the poor thing. "Suffice to say I was never intending fatal injury."

"...wow. I can't believe this." Danny stares off to the side forlornly, "What the _fuck._ Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well besides not knowing _you_ didn't know until _right this moment_ …" he lifts an eyebrow at the teen, "I did not wish to harm you too badly because you need the practice, dear boy. And the practice holding back all the time gave me finer control over my own powers, so it was a win-win." He crosses his arms, "And since you weren't going to let me train you for some absurd fear of me stealing you away," He rolls his eyes and ignores the way his stomach flutters at the different ways one could take that, "then I was going to give you ample training through other means. Even at the cost of your trust for a bit if that's what it took." Vlad looks up into the sky, noting the clouds and the very real possibility of rain later. "We are alone in this world but for each other. We need to stick together, and I refuse to have a weak partner at my side."

He returns his attention to Danny in time to see him smirk and lift an eyebrow, "'Partner?'"

Vlad bristles, twisting and walking away a few steps, "Uh, ah never mind that. I meant minion. Underling. Uhh slave to my bidding." He waves his hand, trying to appear nonchalant.

"You're reaching now. Just admit it already." The smile is painfully clear in the brat's voice.

"Nonsense." He insists, unable to face the teen or his ridiculous accusations.

"So you were secretly training me so I could one day work with you. Sorry, _for_ you." Danny steps around Vlad's shoulder to catch his attention, before rolling his eyes, "What if that plan backfired?" He crosses his arms.

Vlad mimics the action, "It wouldn't." He says simply. "You may not view things the same as I but we would inevitably end up together, Little Badger. Maybe not working _together_ directly but definitely _near_ each other, of that I have no doubt."

"Uhhh?"

Danny's incredibly insightful response forces Vlad to elaborate, "We are one and the same, dear boy. Can you stand here now and tell me you could go away to college, work, etcetera living _anywhere in the world,_ and forget that the only person who could ever _possibly_ understand you, you could so easily forget? Could you imagine right now never again seeing nor speaking to me for the rest of your life?" He does his best to say it as a rhetorical statement, not like the clingy, desperate way his heart wants him to ask. He never realized how badly he needs an answer to that question until right then, vulnerable and raw before the only ever halfa in existence.

Danny looks down in thought, "... I never thought about it," he says quietly, thoughtfully.

The teen's response disappoints him, but he tamps that down and offers the other with a gentle smile and friendly pat to the shoulder. "You have time, Little Badger. It's not like I'll be going far." He ignores his heart pressing forward, begging to ask him to think about it _right now damnit_.

Inside Danny's mind, his thoughts are racing. He feels stupid for having never thought about it before. _Of course_ they would always share a connection, they are alone against the world. _'Why was I wasting so many years fighting with Vlad – wait no - sparring. Ugh, that's another thing. He didn't know I thought we were fighting full-on. Jesus Christ, how strong_ is _he? He must be amazing fully unleashed…_ ' The thoughts that follow make Danny's cheeks warm, _'Now is so not the time for those thoughts.'_ He's glad they have taken this weird turn of events and decided on this truce; he can't imagine fighting with the only other being of his kind for the rest of his life…

"You must have been so lonely before I came along…" He murmurs without thinking, before sucking in his breath in embarrassment, wishing the words would follow his breath back into himself. _'What the fuck Danny, why did you say that out loud? That sounds so self-centered! Just shut up already!'_

Vlad isn't facing him, but the tips of his ears darken. "Yes well, now you're here." He murmurs.

Danny feels himself warm in reaction to that and the implications.

"Now I'm here." He takes a step forward, the back he faces doesn't move, "and we definitely got off on the wrong foot, like _super_ wrong foot," he laughs, "but maybe we can look back at all this in the future and laugh?"

Vlad barks out a laugh, "That is _so_ cliché, Little Badger."

Danny hums and steps up beside Vlad to look over the side, arms wrapped around himself like a hug. He takes a moment to think before finally breaking the quiet, "I was so excited when we first met, because I thought I was a freak. Something born from a crazy coincidence and I would be lonely forever. I'd only been a halfa for a short time, I think like a month or something. But seeing you so easily be a person _and_ a ghost made me realize there could be more of us, like _obviously_ I'm not alone. There _has_ to be others. Don't you think?"

He turns to Vlad and snaps his mouth shut, the man watching him with amazement plainly written on his face, "Those are my thoughts exactly!" Vlad breathes, eyes wide, "If it was just me, then it's just this weird happenstance with the portal and wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time but then _you came along._ " He fully faces the teen, "You and your fledgling powers and self-righteous attitude." His eyes trail all over the body before him, unknowingly making Danny squirm, "I thought to myself, 'Well this is no longer an isolated incident but rather a _sequence.'_ A sequence, Daniel, do you understand the significance of that? A pattern! There is a rhyme and reason that made us who we are!" The man grabs the teen's shoulders excitedly, "And if _we_ stumbled upon that sequence, then surely _others_ have too, right?"

Danny takes in the earnest expression upon the older halfa's face, red eyes shining and pointed ears perked with barely contained energy. He can't help it, he turns his head and giggles, still trapped in the man's grip. "You really are a nerd, aren't you Vlad?"

Vlad jolts, suddenly very aware of how close he is holding the teen to himself and how tight his grip is. He immediately let's go and takes a sheepish step back. Danny shakes is head, not quite understanding the reaction but finding it amusing either way.

He watches Vlad go about straightening himself out (ha) for a moment before speaking again, "I would like to help you."

Vlad pauses, flicking his attention back to Danny silently.

"I mean, I want to help you find other halfas - _if_ there are any. I'm sure we could recreate the scenarios our two portals went through and see what kinds of readings they put out. Maybe something there will give us a clue?" He asks brightly, hoping he isn't making a fool of himself.

Vlad smiles, it's a slow thing that unfurls with so much promise that it makes Danny's heart skip a beat and begin hammering wildly in his chest. The jump in pulse-rate confuses him, so he settles for a tiny smile in return.

Vlad opens his mouth to respond before the shrill bleet of the warning bell signals for the end of the lunch period. Both half-ghosts jump into fighting stances out of reflex and then smile sheepishly at one another.

"Uh, I should go." Danny says timidly, "I'll uh, catch you later?"

Vlad nods, "Yes, I should go speak with your principal about tomorrow morning's presentation." He rubs his neck and smiles shyly, "See you tomorrow, Little Badger."

Danny watches the man sink through the roof and disappear from view before turning around and crossing his arms, "You can come out now."

Ember and Freakshow suddenly pop into the visible realm, a little embarrassed for being caught.

"Seriously? Did you not hear my explanation about my Ecto-Location?"

Ember smacks Freakshow's shoulder and hisses at him, "I _told_ you he saw us!"

Danny shakes his head, "What now? You two still watching Vlad?"

They nod, Freakshow steps forward, "Yes, about that… Daniel, we need to tell you something."

Danny holds up one finger, "Hold up, is it upsetting?"

Freakshow snaps his mouth shut, thanks to the aid of Ember's hand under his chin. She nods for them both.

Danny sighs, "Is it about Vlad?"

They nod again, Freakshow yanks himself out of Ember's grip and nods of his own free will.

Danny frowns at his feet, "Does it hurt anyone?"

They look at each other and shrug before shaking their heads no.

Danny tilts his head, "Is it about … _me?"_

They nod again and Danny lets out a long, defeated breath, "Okay, meet me at my house after school."

"You don't want to know _now?_ Aren't you _curious?"_ Freakshow sputters, bewildered.

"If its bad enough that you guys feel the need to intervene then yes, I am _deadly_ curiously. But," he holds up a hand of silence, "I have a history test this afternoon that is super important for my grade. I need to focus." He looks between them, decision made, "Come to my house after school. My friends and I will meet you in the backyard."

Ember smirks, "I don't think you want your friends to hear what we have to say."

Danny shakes his head, "Whatever you have to say to me can be said to them too. I would just be repeating everything anyways."

The duo nods and watches Danny disappear through the roof as the final bell rings for class.

Freakshow grins at Ember, "He will wish he chose to tell them later and maybe omit some details."

Ember shrugs, "His loss. Babypop's embarrassment is our entertainment." She puts a foot up on the edge of the roof and looks over the edge, "Let's get out of here, there's a music store downtown that just opened that I want to haunt – I mean – check out."


	10. Chapter 10

(Don't) Say My Name – Chapter 10 – Karma Is a Bitterly Cold Bitch

* * *

Humming.

He keeps catching himself humming. How strange.

Vlad pushes a soft laugh through his nose and shakes his head. This teen has definitely done something to him this past week.

He shuffles the papers containing his speech, placing them in proper order and running a critical eye over them once more. Each page is carefully written by hand, not a single smudge or mistake upon them.

Vlad enjoys writing his speeches a little backwards than other professionals. He likes to do the rough idea work on his computer, typing out quick lines and easily deleting entire paragraphs when he feels they don't flow. The computer makes the creative process so much easier and more fluid. Once the desired result is finished, Vlad will take pen to paper and write the carefully crafted words by hand. He is a visual learner; the words will imprint into his memory better and keep him from looking to the page so often during the presentation. A neat little trick he learned in university with Jack and Maddie that he holds dear.

It also reminds him that he is still human and has human quirks.

He folds the pages neatly and tucks them away into his jacket pocket, patting it absently.

A soft knock at the door interrupts his thoughts and he calls whoever it is in.

"Good morning Mr. Masters, I brought your tea."

"Ah good morning Mrs. Gladstone. Thank you." Vlad smiles his greeting before reaching for the cup.

The woman stares at him a moment, "You seem noticeably happier this morning, sir."

Vlad chuckles, inserting the teabag into the hot water and watching it slowly bleed into the cup, "I _am_ very happy this morning, Julia. A plan I had has come to fruition surprisingly well, the speech I wrote last night has come out perfectly and I may have gained a new research companion in my studies. I would say all of this is grounds for a good mood."

Julia's smile crinkles the age lines in the corners of her eyes, "A research companion? I never thought I'd see the day you would _willingly_ work with someone, sir. They must be very smart to gather your attention."

"He is incredibly intelligent. I expect many great things from him." Vlad states confidently, trying to hide his smile by lowering his head and twisting his lips. His finger trails along the lip of his teacup, "He has already surprised me, in fact. He meditates his emotions instead of letting them overwhelm him, he never strays from his path in the face of an easier and cheaper route, he has even done his own research already and with tremendous, powerful results. He is quite a fascinating person…"

The housekeeper remains silent, processing his words. Vlad finally looks up and takes in her knowing smirk and high eyebrow. "…What?"

"Oh nothing," The woman waves a hand dismissively, before placing it on her hip, "It just sounds to me like you admire this gentleman." She leans forward, lips lifting into a wide smile, laugh lines gently forming on either side, "Seems to me you admire this gentleman a bit more than is necessary for a 'research partner.'" She straightens and taps her nose with a wink.

Vlad's eyes bug out of his head and he sputters his protests.

But Julia simply laughs at him, curtsies and leaves him to his thoughts. The witch.

Vlad mutters to himself, _'It's not like that. He's a genuinely smart young man. I didn't mean it in that sense! Its just this blasted spell!'_ He reminds himself the spell doesn't work like that. _'Alright, so the spell has clearly_ influenced _how I feel. Perhaps it isn't at fault directly but the results it created still put the idea in my mind and –'_ "Arrgh! I'm just confusing myself now!"

' _This is ridiculous. I don't have_ feelings _for a 17-year-old boy. Get yourself together Vladimir!'_ He grumbles about the absurdity and leans back in his chair.

He will need to contact Ember and Freakshow, get them to cancel their spells and let him live his life in peace. _'Then we can begin research straight away. Maybe I can get him to go through his mother's notes on the portal. That will put us a step in the right direction. I already have all of my calculations; it will be wonderful to crosscheck between the two incidents. I will have to ask him for a more detailed retelling of his portal accident.'_ He knows the incident was more intense for Danny, since he was facing a full-sized portal and not the cola-laced-prototype Vlad was in front of.

He hums again, imagining Daniel flying over to his estate after school, ready to learn about his powers and begin – oh. Vlad swivels in his seat to eye the security camera in the corner of the room. _'I'll have to lower the ghost-proofing if he is to stop by regularly… I don't have much love for that idea though, security is so important… perhaps I can upload his signature into the system so it will allow him to pass through freely… I'll need him to allow some samples… He may not like that idea… then again he seems to trust me now…'_

Vlad warms at the thought. Danny trusts him. They will be working together, training, researching, comparing ghost DNA… The smile that takes over his entire face beams with pride. Having a companion, _a friend,_ someone else like him, it's almost too much for Vlad to bear! His heart beats with strong, painful pumps, fueling his slowly warming body.

The knock at the door does nothing to dim his mood, "Come in!"

Julia pokes her head around the door, takes in Vlad and the happy flush crawling all over him and hums, "Ian has readied the car for you, Mr. Loverboy." She steps fully into the room and hides a giggle behind her hand.

Vlad jolts out of his musings and growls at the woman. "Yes thank you Mrs. Gladstone. But in the future, if you're going to hand out your personal opinion on matters, do take the time to learn the facts and understand the situation. I won't tolerate half-baked, uninformed assumptions. I am a man of _science._ "

"Oh my, I was only pointing out what was so plainly written for all to see. But maybe I am mistaken, sir. It happens from time to time at this age, of course." She curtsies apologetically and turns to leave, pausing at the doorway. "Only the guilty get so aggressive in their defense, Mr. Masters." She reminds him, slipping from his view once more.

With no way to refute that point, (since it was _Vlad_ who told _Julia_ that line just a few days ago), the man snarls and whips his paperweight at the study door. The stainless-steel football trophy makes an ugly dent deep into the wood and lands with a muted thud on the carpet. Vlad groans and leans forward, hands covering his face in exasperation.

His cheeks and ears burn hot.

He doesn't have the balls to analyze why.

* * *

Vlad watches the fancy uptown homes slide by his window in the backseat, how each manicured lawn and garden seems to sparkle in vivid colour. With the rain they had the previous night and the beautiful, sunny weather promised today, he decides to remove the suit jacket and set it aside for the time being.

He thinks back to yesterday afternoon's conversation with Danny. Particularly about the genuine surprise Danny displayed realizing Vlad was never using full power on him.

He chuckles, _'I'll have to show him next time I see him, I wonder how impressed he'll be?'_ He smiles, thinking about Danny's eyes lighting up in awe, before wondering if perhaps it would be with fear. He frowns, not liking that particular train of thought. _'I will never cause him to look upon me with fear again. There's no need now, since he finally knows the truth behind my actions. Maybe he will come to me for formal training?'_

Vlad leans back in his seat, crossing his ankles and drumming his fingers on the arm rest, _'He will definitely seek my tutelage after witnessing my proper strength, I'm sure of it.'_ He can't help the happy feeling bubbling in his chest from showing on his face.

How amazing it would be to have another half-ghost to celebrate and commiserate their lives with!

Vlad closes his eyes, imagining flying from town to town alongside the young man, armed with their combined research, investigating strange rumours and paranormal gossip across the globe. They would be an amazing team. They would absolutely find others. Together.

He mentally congratulates himself for not using Desiree and risking her screwy manipulation. He knows Freakshow and Ember kind of did the same thing to him, but he _was_ being an asshole, he can admit that freely from inside the safety of his own mind. He was just so _eager,_ and ultimately that was his downfall. _'No matter, Daniel believes in me now and that alone gives me strength.'_ Warmth blooms in his chest at the thought.

He notices they've entered the more middle-class section of town and are quite close to arriving at the high school. He pulls out his speech, quick to check for any last-minute touches, _'Alright, yes, I have to somehow slip in the new Dalv Co. anti-ghost fencing tech that we are unveiling next week.'_ He stares at the notes, mind running through various ways to strategically sneak in some product placement. _'Maybe I could even throw in a couple ghost jokes too? Something to amuse Daniel and his friends would be bonus. He seems to like the more cringeworthy puns though… Do I risk my reputation a bit just to make him laugh?'_

Vlad fights back the smile, pressing his lips into a hard line to hide his mirth, _'If only he were a little older! Or better yet, we met in college! We would've hit it off right away for sure, we could have even been close friends! Then this spell wouldn't have been such a_ damnable _thing…'_ His thoughts quickly veer off course, picturing Danny in his classes. They would share notes, eat lunch together in that god-awful cafeteria, maybe even celebrate the end of exams with a few drinks, have a few too many, get a little handsy… _'It wouldn't be too unheard of, that's what college experimenting is all about, right?'_

His mind supplies him with a few inappropriate ideas and he quickly puts the brakes on them. _'What the hell am I thinking? These are incredibly taboo thoughts… For shame Vladimir! He is young enough to be your child, for God's sake!'_

He places a hand over his face, and drags it down heavily, attempting to rub away the shameful blush painting his cheeks. He vows to himself to find Ember and Freakshow directly after the assembly, this simply cannot go on any longer. This spell is messing with his mind and the last thing he needs to do is break the young man's tentative trust with such ridiculous thoughts.

One day he will tell Daniel about all this, when their bond is stronger and there is minimal chance in ruining his trust. Then they can look back on this awkward week together and laugh, just as Daniel suggested yesterday about all the fighting.

That day can't come soon enough for Vlad.

Vlad steps from the car and first notices the grass crunch beneath his feet. He looks down in surprise and his driver does the same, "Looks to be colder than expected, Sir, will that jacket be enough for you today?"

Vlad waves off the suggestion and grips the jacket slung over his arm tighter, "I'll be fine, Ian, I'll see you once the presentation is done. I shouldn't be longer than an hour."

Ian nods his head in acknowledgement and gets back into the driver's seat to park elsewhere.

Vlad turns and watches as a chilly breeze drifts by, causing more than a few students to shiver and pull their not-warm-enough clothing tighter around themselves. Several head indoors to wait for the bell, Vlad not far behind them.

The frozen grass crunching under his feet worries him, _'This is a little out of season, I hope this chill doesn't kill Roger's gardens.'_ He thinks of his elderly groundskeeper, ' _No doubt he'll be cursing and swearing back at the estate, shaking a fist as if to threaten Mother Nature herself.'_

Vlad releases a small laugh at the thought, pushing open the front doors of the school. He pauses, perplexed at how the school feels _colder_ inside than it does outside. _'How peculiar, do they have the air conditioning on?'_

He notices Lancer talking with a repair man, or, to put it more accurately, having a shouting match involving book titles and temperatures. Vlad raises an eyebrow and approaches them. The unknown man, noticing Vlad's approach first, sees his opportunity to abort the conversation and quickly ducks into the crowd. Lancer watches him go, outraged before finally taking in Vlad's presence himself.

Immediately he calms himself and shakes the man's hand, "Ah Mr. Masters, good morning, good morning! So sorry for the freezing temperature in the school!"

"Not at all, Mr. Lancer," Vlad responds, politely enduring the overly enthusiastic handshake. "I assume the air conditioning is stuck on full blast?"

"One would assume so, but my repairman swears the A/C isn't even on. He says he cranked the heat up in response to the chill, up to 80 degrees! Can you believe it?"

Vlad frowns, "This certainly doesn't feel like 80 degrees. Is he absolutely sure?"

"That's what I said! I think he takes me for a fool! I-"

Lancer cuts himself off to watch a very noticeable puff of breath escape Vlad's mouth before apologizing profusely and promising to have the situation resolved.

Vlad thanks him and watches the Vice Principal quickly march away before looking around himself, searching for the one that set off his ghost sense. His eyes scan the crowd of students, attempting to locate Danny or either of his friends but coming up unsuccessful.

The warning bell rings and the students begin funneling towards the gymnasium where their morning assembly will take place. Vlad wades through the crowd, stepping into the nearest men's bathroom to check on his appearance.

He contemplates his face in the mirror, and the unfamiliar, genuine happiness he finds there, before Tucker suddenly walks out of the furthest stall.

' _I could've sworn the room was empty.'_ Vlad thinks to himself, surprised at seeing one of Danny's friends at last.

Tucker halts his steps at seeing him but then quickly looks away and steps up beside him to wash his hands. Vlad cheerfully greets him, asking the teen if he has plans for the weekend.

"Mhm." He grunts in response, making zero eye contact, and otherwise ignoring the other entirely.

Vlad pauses, staring awkwardly as the teen turns to dry his hands on some paper towel.

Tucker walks to the doorway, lifting a hand in farewell before muttering, "Good luck today, asshole," on his way out.

Vlad is floored at the total change. He figured Tucker and Sam would've heard everything he and Danny talked about yesterday and discussed the pleasant mood of the encounter, as close friends do. He can't fathom why the young man would be so suddenly cold towards him.

He wracks his brains to remember if perhaps the young man's parents are divorcing, or if he maybe had a love interest break up with him (the typical high-school drama) but comes up empty. Vlad attempts to convince himself it's just usual teenaged rebellion. Sticking it to the man, or something. He ignores the pang in his heart that whispers to him how much more mature Danny and his friends are in comparison to usual teens. Something just doesn't add up.

He shakes it off, washes his face and thinks about his speech. _'No sense worrying about that now, I have a speech to deliver, future voters to secure and new tech to sell.'_ He smooths his features and steps back into the hallway. The chill is still there, and he hurries to the gymnasium, knowing the room will be warmed by the collective student body currently seated in there. For the first time in his career, Vlad is looking forward to a stuffy room.

Once he crosses the threshold of the gymnasium, however, he feels the temperature drop dramatically. His eyes widen in disbelief. The students seated already are huddled together for warmth, whining and murmuring amongst themselves.

Vlad spots Principal Ishiyama speaking quickly with the repairman from earlier, both shaking their heads in disagreement before parting ways in frustration.

He feels the temperature plummet with each step he takes towards the stage, feeling his arms and legs break out in goosebumps. _'Do they keep the damned ventilation units above the stage or what?'_ He grouses to himself, eyeing the rafters before taking his seat.

The chair's chill quickly bleeds through his pants and numbs his backside. _'This is ridiculous, why is it so cold here? It's so bad it's affecting the outdoors!'_ Vlad frowns, _'No, that doesn't explain the frozen grass… The rain last night must have been a freezing rain… and perhaps it leaked into some air vents or something and broke the school's heaters?'_

Before he can analyze how poor his excuses are becoming, the second bell rings and the students quiet down. Ishiyama ascends the stage herself and rubs her hands together. She taps the microphone before looking up at her students, "Good morning Amity Park High. I apologize for the unseasonable chill today. We are currently working on a fix for that, but in the meantime, we are going to keep this assembly brief, I don't want you all to catch a cold."

" _ **Vlad."**_

The soft whisper startles Vlad, and he looks around himself for the source. He knows who it is, there's no mistaking the jump in his veins or the tingle in his skull.

"Why?" He asks subtly, so quietly no one but a ghost would hear him. The Principal continues to address the audience, unaware.

" _I can't change back, so I have to stay invisible for a bit."_

"…Why?" He asks again, doing his best to not look behind himself for the source of the voice, knowing he'll see nothing.

" _I'm too_ **angry."** The voice growls lowly, a cold gust nipping at the edges of his subconscious.

Vlad's eyes widen, _'The chill has been coming from Daniel? But what could cause him such-'_ he suddenly gasps, "W-why?" He squeaks out, heart hammering in his throat. He hopes he isn't right, but he's not stupid. He just makes a lot of stupid mistakes.

He feels the frozen aura bite into his own quite painfully, like claws sinking into his skin. Vlad fidgets, careful to remember he is currently seated in front of nearly eight hundred students and their teachers. Danny finally answers, a false innocence in his words, with another question, _"I had a very interesting conversation after school yesterday,_ **Vlad,** _do you want to know what it was about?"_

Vlad's heart, which was so light and content this morning, plummets like lead into his stomach, while his forehead throbs painfully. They told him. He knows.

And he's _pissed._

Vlad deflates, lowering his head and murmuring from the corner of his mouth, "I am so sorry, Da-"

" _-DON'T SAY MY NAME!"_ Comes the harsh whisper, chill increasing dramatically, numbing Vlad's toes in his shoes and causing the air in his lungs to wheeze out of him.

He flinches at the seething hatred in the teen's voice. To be so angry that he is stuck in ghost form… Danny must be _beyond_ livid. The fragile trust that was slowly building between them has long since vanished, as quickly as a snap of the fingers.

He takes a breath, mind scrambling for a way to fix this, anything, anything at all that can bring back those gentle, hopeful feelings from yesterday. "Please," he whispers hoarsely, "wait."

Danny laughs, a cruel thing that doesn't suit his beautiful soul. Vlad feels him lean in close, invisible hands on his shoulders, the teen's breath on his ear, _"Oh_ **Vlad** _ **,**_ _you always said I was too impatient for my own good. So why start now?"_

Vlad feels his body jolt, blood rushing in his veins and singing in his ears at the spell's assault. He has to stop Danny before Vlad makes a fool of himself in front of the entire school. "Please, not here. Let's talk properly." His palms sweat with anxiety as he watches Ishiyama finish her speech to the student body, everyone clapping, before she gestures for him to approach the microphone.

" _It's my turn now. This is just karma,_ **Vlad."**

He stumbles a step before catching himself on the podium. Ishiyama looks at him alarmed and he waves her concern away. Whatever look he is wearing on his face doesn't seem to convince her, but she steps back nonetheless.

He takes a moment to pull in a deep breath, calming himself and staring into the expectant sea of faces below him. He feels a shiver crawl up his spine, freezing his fingertips and nose. _'I am so screwed.'_ He thinks miserably. _'Let's get this over with quickly.'_

"Greetings students and staff of Amity Park High. I want to take a moment to thank Principal Ishiyama for graciously accepting me into her school this past week for political research purposes."

He hears a snort in his right ear and a hand press on top of his shoulder. Vlad does his best to ignore it and the closeness of his tormentor.

"I-I'd like to also thank Mr. Lancer for allowing me to place myself into his homeroom class on such short notice." Here he pauses to allow the students to clap half-heartedly.

" _So, was your_ **research** _very conclusive,_ **Vlad?** _Did you get what you needed from us?"_

Vlad bites down on his bottom lip, feeling his body break out into a warm flush and his head pound painfully. The place on his shoulder that Danny is squeezing so harshly is frozen numb, but the rest of his body is only too happy to react to the spell.

"I-It may seem like a strange time of year to visit a classroom and sit in on their English studies for a week. Surely, I'm sick of school by now," he lets the audience chuckle, "well it's important to know what today's youth is after when running office here in Amity, and I have to confess I wanted to see for myself what appeals to you students first hand. I inserted myself to find out what you wanted out of life. You all will replace us someday, and it is our job to ensure that we adapt and adjust accordingly with the times."

Vlad feels Danny tug on his ponytail idly, before whispering, _"And you just had to make sure what_ **I** _wanted out of life lined up with your sick little fantasies, hmm_ **Vlad?** _"_ He whispers into the man's neck, moving in front of him and brushing invisible fingertips down his Adam's apple, clavicle and finally to settle on his sternum, fingers splayed wide, _"Is_ **this** _what you've been wanting, crazy old Fruitloop?"_

"N-No!" Vlad stutters, coughs and looks away from the confused audience _._ He feels the sweat collect in his hairline and on his face, his chest the only place on his body that is cool in the onslaught."Things don't always go the way we intend them to," he does his best to answer Danny without sounding _too_ crazy, "but if we work together, then we can make a brighter future, t-together." He winces, his speech skills are deteriorating by the minute.

Principal Ishiyama comes back on stage and offers him a glass of water, worriedly asking if he's feeling alright. Vlad accepts the drink and assures her he's fine, briefly wondering how broken his composure has to appear for her to check on him in the middle of an assembly. She quickly retreats to the side once again, unsure why the cold is so much more unbearable by the microphone.

As he drinks, Vlad feels the cold press on his chest shift and slide. Danny wraps his ghost tail around Vlad's torso and lazily shifts around the man to place himself on the man's back. The appendage still loosely draped around his middle leaves a freezing, burning sensation.

Vlad does his best to keep a straight face, noticing his water has turned to slush in the glass and shakily sets it down.

Danny waits for Vlad to start his next sentence before constricting, like a snake squeezing its prey. Vlad's words halt before he wheezes out the rest of the sentence hurriedly, "And if anyone fe-HEELS- _hurk-like we could be doing more for you_ - _ungh-_ please don't h-hesitate to inform me or my team."

He grits his teeth and takes a breath, trying to downplay his weird delivery of that line. He reaches into his jacket for his speech papers, hoping to subtly shake off his torturer.

Danny laughs quietly and unwinds his tail, causing Vlad to shiver as the frozen feeling slowly slides over his chest. The end of the tail glides over Vlad's nipples, and he is unsure whether that was intentional at this point but can't help the uncomfortable feeling of them budding tight in response. He crosses his arms, wishing he hadn't left his jacket on the chair behind him.

" _I don't know what made it worse, the fact that once you realized how the spell backfired, you_ **kept going,** _or the fact that_ **those two** _had to say something to me because_ **you** _wouldn't,_ _ **Vlad."**_

Vlad turns his head from the microphone, gripping each side of the podium and feeling the air forced from his lungs in a wave of arousal. He carefully keeps himself together, taking a gulp of icy air before grinding his teeth in concentration.

He lifts his head to look into the concerned faces of the students in front of him, no doubt thinking he's gone completely batshit crazy. _'If only they knew the half of it.'_ He smooths out his papers on the podium and opens his mouth to speak.

Danny chooses that moment to lean into his other ear, whispering hoarsely, _"I honestly trusted you,_ _ **Vlad."**_

The words the man had prepared to speak died on his lips. The broken-hearted admission twists into his heart with icy betrayal, while his body fizzles and swarms with electric arousal. Vlad feels the swell in his briefs start, and the total opposites in the mental and physical torment was surely going to kill him.

"I'm so sorry," he says, before remembering the microphone, "I uh- I'm so sorry that the – uh – week here has ended and I won't be spending more time here with you students." He quickly recovers.

" _It's too late for sorrys,_ **Vlad."**

He reels, biting his tongue hard enough to cause pain, fighting so hard to stop the very real groan from escaping him. His grip tightens on either side of the podium, biting into the cheap wood, leaving finger-shaped dents. He accidentally knocks his papers at his feet, lamenting their loss briefly. His pants tent dramatically while the heated air within his trousers cause beads of sweat to roll down his thighs and knees. He presses his hips into the stand, trying desperately to hide his fully hard erection from view.

The press feels both relieving and entirely worse, making his head spin with desire. _'Need to get out of here!'_ He manages to think semi-coherently, _'Can't be seen like this around kids!'_

He clears his throat and goes to take a sip of water before seeing it frozen solid. As he sets it down again, he pretends to cough, turning away from the microphone to desperately whisper, _"Have mercy!"_

" _Like you gave me in front of my friends and family?"_

Vlad feels what's left of his dark and ugly soul shrivel down in shame, he slowly turns his head back to the crowd and smiles weakly, "I would now like to offer a chance for any last-minute questions before I hand you back to your Principal."

He would love to just go, just run away as far and as fast as he can. But being a popular public figure means he should at least politely offer 30 seconds of pretend hope for idiotic questions before he can finally escape with feigned disappointment.

Just as he looks to Ishiyama to hand over the reigns and get the hell out of there, one student in the back stands up, hand raised high above her head. "Yeah, I've got a question!"

Vlad pales and looks out to the crowd, spotting Samantha Manson, all fiery rage and standing on her seat.

He grits his teeth, "Yes, Miss Manson?"

He ignores the idle finger tracing lazy circles over his back and shoulders, leaving painful, frozen trails in its wake. _"Be careful how you answer her, she's pretty pissed too.'_

"It's totally unrelated to your _fantastic_ speech," Sam swoons dramatically before straightening up, "But I forget, what is the age of consent here in Amity?"

As the crowd begins to murmur, Mr. Lancer pipes up from his seat on the edge of the stage, _"Great Gatsby,_ Miss Manson! That is a question that could have been saved for class! Don't waste Mr. Master's time here, he's clearly caught a cold or something and needs to leave!"

"It's quite alright," Vlad waves at him before turning to the idiotic girl, internally seething at the obvious jab. He grinds his teeth into a fake smile and politely bites out, "Each state has a different age of consent ranging from 16, 17 and 18. _Our_ state is currently set at 16. If you have any further questions of that nature, I think you should speak with a guidance counsellor."

She crosses her arms and ignores how her classmates stare at her in a mixture of worry and pity, taking her seat without another word, glaring daggers the entire time.

Vlad feels Danny pat his back, _"You just pissed her off more, I hope you realize that. Now the counsellor's gonna be all over her."_

He nods, ever so slightly and droops further. Just what he needs, Danny's friends, his confidants, to also be against him. No wonder Tucker was so off this morning. They both must be so disgusted with him. All that playful banter in class is long gone.

" _You poor thing, you must be so wound up right now,"_ Danny coos into Vlad's ear, brushing his nose along the lobe and eliciting a shiver to flow straight through to the man's groin, _"At least you did your research, or was that a happy coincidence?"_ Danny sighs, fanning his breath across Vlad's cheek and causing a stutter in his breathing, _"Either way you really are a sick, sick bastard_ **Vlad Masters."**

Sheer iron will keeps Vlad from moaning out loud, scarring the sea of minors ahead of him and forever labelling him as something terrible. His eyes bulge as he holds his breath, feeling more wood splinter beneath his fingernails. The death grip on the podium keeps him from falling to his knees, as he's nearly lost all strength to stand on his own.

A sliver or something pierces his finger and he happily latches onto the pain, pushing it in deeper, anything to distract him from the hard wave of arousal forcing itself through his body.

Danny giggles, petting the hair that's plastered to his sweat slickened forehead. Vlad's got to be the only person within a 4-mile radius that's sweating, and he'd happily go back to freezing his nuts off on the hard-plastic chair behind him in a heartbeat.

Suddenly someone else stands in the audience, on the other side of the gymnasium. The boy waves his hand, "I've got a question!"

Vlad gestures for Tucker to proceed, hoping to _God_ it is something that can distract him from this ridiculous situation he is in.

"Alright, so it's actually about the homework we covered this week."

"Yet another question that can be covered in _class,_ Mr. Foley." Lancer bites out.

Tucker shakes his head, "No it's about Mr. Masters here."

Lancer grumbles his acquiesce and sits back down.

"So in _Frankenstein_ , the monster starts as a person the reader sympathises with, because he's abandoned and alone against the world by his own creator, his only _friend._ Left to his own devices, he starts to explore the world and makes a few bad choices but we, the reader, pass it off as 'well, he didn't know any better, he had to learn everything the hard way.' Eventually the monster starts doing horrible things and hurting innocent people. It makes it hard for the reader to let it slide anymore, and they start to question if the monster is a lost cause."

Tuckers eyes seem to bore into Vlad's, "My question for you, Mr. Masters, is this: Do you believe the monster deserves another chance? Is he capable of learning to be good? Or is he doomed to be evil forever, never to make peace with his past? And, does he _deserve_ to be forgiven?"

Vlad sees the olive branch that Tucker is offering him and doesn't squander the opportunity. Perhaps there is hope for Vlad yet. If he can convince Tucker then maybe Tucker can convince Danny…

He draws himself up, hoping Danny will let him answer the question unmolested. He hears nothing from the ghostly teen and realizes Danny also sees the opening and is letting him speak his piece. Vlad thinks carefully on his wording before answering:

"Someone very dear to me once said, 'Everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves. If you make an honest effort, then that's the most important thing.' I believe what he was trying to say is that you can't expect miracles overnight, and people will absolutely mess up along the way. But as long as they honestly attempt to better themselves then they should be given a second chance. The monster, as you said, was abandoned by the only person he ever knew. He knew betrayal before he knew love, and this caused the monster to lash out and make stupid mistakes. He took what little light that came into his life and twisted it, manipulated it. It's all he's ever known. It's hard to feel sympathy towards a creature that's done so many dark and ugly things, true, but you have to remember, he did _try._ He tried so many times, but his ugly exterior and bad reputation always preceded him and eventually he just gave in. He is so very capable of learning, and growing and trusting, but I think he just needed someone to believe in him. Since no one ever did then he just became what everyone only saw, a monster."

Vlad pauses, hoping he got his point across. His eyes glisten with emotion before he quickly blinks it away. He clears his throat before turning back to Tucker, "Does that answer your question, Mr. Foley?"

Tucker smirks and gives a thumbs up, "Sure does, thanks Mr. Masters." He sits back down.

Vlad nods and feels Danny move away from his back. "Not bad, **Vlad."** The teen whispers in his ear, giving his ponytail another tug at the same time.

Vlad sways as his dick throbs, he lets slip a small groan and turns his head to quickly disguise it as a cough. He bites down on his tongue to keep a very inopportune orgasm at bay. The amount of control _that_ requires makes him dizzy. He can taste blood; he must've bitten through.

The temperature in the air is suddenly more bearable, Danny must have vacated the stage. He feels relief flood his system and latches onto that much safer emotion. He smiles weakly at the audience, feeling his heart attempt to jackhammer out of his chest and hightail it out of there.

It takes him a minute but Vlad finally refocuses his vision on the students, giving one last push to save some face before finally fleeing the scene, "I-If that is all for the questions… then I will leave you with these parting words: I _want_ to better myself as your mayor, that's why I came here. This week you have shown me that above all else _integrity, honesty_ and _action_ are the main things you need from me." He pauses to catch his breath, his body is so damn sensitive and raw right now, (dear _Lord_ have mercy) that pulling together a logical sentence is absolutely exhausting.

"I haven't always been a great role model… or even a good S-Samaritan, but I promise you, with _every fiber of my being_ and _breath in my lungs_ , that I will do my part to pave the way for your goals in life. Never to hinder, but rather to help and encourage you." He looks around, eyeing Sam and Tucker strategically seated separately, "I _will_ be better, I won't make the same mistake twice."

He bites his lip, wondering if he should push his luck before deciding to just go for it, he can't do any worse than he's already done by now, "And remember to give that monster in your life a second chance."

As everyone claps, Vlad realizes one fatal flaw in his plan: if he moves away from the podium, his not-so-little problem will be in plain view for everyone to see. He watches Principal Ishiyama approach and internally panics. She will expect him to move aside, shake her hand, maybe even take a picture for the school paper… all humiliating things to do while sporting a massive erection just one touch away from bursting. It's downright criminal.

He looks around, wondering how he can get out of this mess when he notices a few students near the entrance begin talking rather agitatedly.

"Hey, do you smell that?"

"Oh yeah, what is that? Campfire?"

"It definitely smells like burning…"

Vlad looks past them to see a grey cloud slowly curl its way towards the gymnasium door from the hallway. There's a brief pause before the students start screaming, "F-Fire! Fire!" and one runs to pull the fire alarm on the wall. After that everyone in the gymnasium is shouting and running to the emergency exit behind the bleachers.

Vlad hears a click come from the mic before feeling a chill brush his face and frozen fingers tug at his tie, _"There's your mercy,_ **Vlad."**

And with that final jolt from the spell, Vlad's world shatters around him. His head falls forward, his eyes slam closed, and his mouth drops open, letting out a low moan that quickly climbs up into a high keen. It suddenly cuts out, having no more air in his lungs to fuel the incriminating sound. His knees buckle, no longer having the strength to hold him up, and he rests his entire weight onto the podium, barely registering the commotion around him. He gasps for air, feeling waves of heat coming from his cheeks, chest and ears.

As he slowly comes to, his face gradually shifts from bliss and exhaustion to shock and horror. He looks wildly around himself, noticing no one looking at him and ducks his head down, shielding his eyes with one shaky hand.

He just had an orgasm in front of Daniel's entire school.

Dear _God._

His hand moves to cover his mouth as his eyes wildly double-check no one has witnessed such a deplorable thing.

Thankful for the distraction, Vlad quickly scoops up his jacket, strategically folding it over his arm and keeping it in front of himself to hide the evidence of his shame. He follows the crowd outside, careful to not touch anybody, mumbles a quick farewell to Ishiyama and flees to his car waiting in the parking lot. In a matter of seconds the mayor is speeding away.

If anyone thought to look back into the gymnasium, they would've seen a very frozen Danny Fenton, mouth agape and cherry red.

* * *

Ember looks over at her companion and quickly looks away. Freakshow stares at the empty stage, jaw hanging open, face painted brightly with second-hand embarrassment. Ember imagines she looks the same right about now, save for her few ghostly differences.

Freakshow finally breaks the silence, "Did… did he just…"

"Yep. He sure did."

Freakshow just shakes his head, eyes finally finding Ember's. She slowly grins at him, humour spreading over her features before she breathlessly begins to chuckle.

Freakshow lets out his own small giggle in reaction and before either of them know it, they're rolling on the ground, clutching their stomachs, laughing like wild hyenas.

It takes several long minutes before either of them are coherent enough to actually speak, surfacing for only a word here or there before divulging back into fits again.

Freakshow eventually gets a hold of himself, wiping tears from his eyes. He grins down at the girl at his side, "I like _your_ type of fireworks better than mine, Em. That was the most entertaining show I've ever witnessed."

She smiles up at him, hands folded behind her head, "Thanks Fred! I am so glad we did this."

"Me too, my dear. Me too."

* * *

A/N:

Thanks for coming this far with me! I wrote so many variations to this scene. Ugghh I've deleted and rewritten thousands of words ...

It was this scene that really got me writing this whole story in the first place,

I just find it super fucking hot to have Vlad not able to react and Danny push his buttons out of spite.

Hopefully it was good for you too, I think I'm finally happy with it. And we all know how poor Plasy-Pants felt about it lol (love that nickname)

Anywho, I have quite a bit written for the next chapter already, you can safely expect it much sooner :)

Until then!

-SharktoothSARA


	11. Chapter 11

(Don't) Say My Name - Chapter 11 - The Definition of Insanity

* * *

.

After that disaster of a morning assembly in the local high school, Amity Park's most favourable mayor couldn't give less fucks about idle pleasantries if he tried.

Vlad nearly throws himself out of the car, not even bothering to wait for Ian to shut off the engine. He books it straight to his private chambers, a complete wreck. The suit jacket is tossed onto the floor at the same time the room door slams and shudders shut in its hinges. He claws at his buttons, mindlessly undressing as he paces. Just as he passes the floor length mirror by the wardrobe, he catches a sight that slows his movements:

His hair is a disaster from all the times he clawed his fingers through it in the car. His tie is askew and partially undone, unable to continue after the memory of slender, chilled fingers tugging at it spring forward, unbidden and dangerously inviting. The blotchy mess that is his skin, redness of angry humiliation and paleness of fearful shame (and a hundred other emotions he won't acknowledge) sprawl along his neck and crawl well below the half-opened shirt collar – as if it can't decide between being bleached or blushing. His eyes are unnaturally, glossy and wide, eyebrows sitting high on his forehead and his lips a deep scarlet from impatient chewing on the ride home – a bad habit he rarely allows himself to indulge in.

A man debauched stares back at him from the reflection - and he hasn't even _touched_ Daniel yet.

 _That_ unwanted thought startles him, and he angrily turns from the mirror before stalking to the whiskey decanter on his dresser. As he goes, he phases his clothing off, too disgusted to even be in the soiled garments a single second longer.

He slams back a hastily poured, heavy-handed shot, feeling the burn and wishing it would punish him more than it does. He decides to pour a healthier amount into the cup and takes it with him into the bathroom to enjoy a much-needed soak in the tub.

The clothes are fine where they are, Julia will find them in a moment.

He pauses, the mess in his trousers will surely raise some questions, even if the housekeeper is wise enough to keep them to herself. Vlad cringes at the hypothetical thoughts she may think and the discussion they had just a couple hours ago.

He leans out the bathroom door and shoots a solitary ecto-beam at the heap on the floor. They burn up into a pile of ash and smoke instantly. _'There, she can have a break from laundry and just vacuum instead.'_

 _._

* * *

.

Later that evening…

"Hey Ice-Boy," Sam waves an empty glass in front of Danny's face, "Fix this problem!"

Danny rolls his eyes at her, and then immediately wishes he hadn't. His stomach reels back with dizziness and he takes a moment to collect himself before dutifully making a few ice cubes in his palm.

"My powers aren't a party-trick Sam. You need to –" he pauses to hiccup "-to _respect_ me."

"Respect _this!"_ Tucker calls from the couch before letting out a rather impressive burp. The two refilling drinks at Sam's basement bar laugh at him for the unnecessary contribution.

Sam grins and watches Danny finish making their drinks. "So, when are you gonna talk to _Vlaaaad~?"_

Danny pauses, looks up at her with a frown, "Why do you think I want to talk to that – _hiccup!_ \- that _ass_ hole _?"_ He sets the vodka bottle down a little too aggressively.

"Pfft, 'cause obviously! He was basically begging for a second chance today."

Danny smirks, "Heh! He _did_ beg actually. He begged me for _'mercy.'"_ He giggles as the other two stare at him, mouths gaping.

"Okay actually though, when did he say that? 'Cause I don't remember that. Do you remember that Tuck?"

"I don't remember that!"

"Yeah, we don't remember that Danny."

"He covered it with a cough or something." He taps his ear, "Super hearing? Hello? Did - _hiccup!_ – did you guys already forget that? You're both bad friends." He sighs dramatically.

Tucker sticks his tongue out while Sam flips him the bird. Danny passes each their respective drinks and takes up his spot on the couch.

"Oh yeah, before I forget _again_ … here." Tucker pulls something out from his pocket and tosses it at Danny's chest. The toss wasn't bad, considering how poorly Tucker takes to alcohol. Danny swipes to grab it a full two seconds too late, feeling the device bump against his sternum and land in his lap. Amazing, battle-hardened reflexes don't mix well with drink apparently.

"It's the footage from the morning assembly." Tucker explains, watching Danny inspect the SD card curiously. "I haven't uploaded it or anything yet, I figured I'd give you th-the honours." He smiles smugly, leaning back in his chair. "Obviously I'll tw-tweak the volume a bit so Sam and I can pick up what you two talked about…" He considers, "also raise the thermo readings to actually _see_ you but that can wait until after the initial viewing."

Sam pats the counter enthusiastically, "Ooooh, I wanna hear Vlad begging! Maybe make it a _ringtone…"_

Danny stares at the memory card, suddenly reminded of all the little things he said and did to Vlad to 'get him back.' Is he really ready to share that with his friends? Some of that stuff … well they already tease him enough as it is.

' _I wasn't supposed to go so … off the script… they're gonna tear me a new one when they see this…'_

Danny pockets the card instead, "Maaaaaybe another night." He quickly takes a sip of his drink, dodging outraged questioning but unwilling to share just yet.

Sam sighs, "Well whatever you did, for Vlad to lose his cool like that… it must've been pretty awesome!"

Danny forces a grin in response, feeling too buzzed to fix the awkward silence.

"So what, that's it?" Tucker suddenly blurts, "So you're even, you got him back or whatever, obviously pretty good for you to be human again and not losing your shit like last night." He nods pointedly at his friend, "But is it over? You gonna go back to being enemies now?"

That thought upsets Danny more than anything else. ' _Is it over?'_ He didn't stop to think about it yet. Vlad DID betray him in probably one of the worst ways ever, and then lead him on with the truce. He took advantage of Danny's forgiving nature. Then on top of that he willingly chooses to continue to _forcibly_ _arouse_ _him?_ What's his deal? Is he maybe happy enough with the spell that he doesn't mind getting close to Danny like that? In that case, does he maybe not mind Danny's reactions?

Is he… _interested_ in Danny?

Well he's obviously a little curious, if the teen is supposed to trust what Freakshow and Ember said the night before. According to them, Vlad developed a bit of a crush for his enemy… ex-enemy? No – wait – they're enemies again now, right? He kinda _did_ attack the man's weakness in front of an audience… with a very real chance for criminal charges… Shit… Vlad will hate him for that… _why did he do that?_

"I gotta talk to him!" Danny blurts, standing suddenly, pitching sideways and immediately falling into Tucker's lap. His friend had enough wherewithal to hold onto his glass, although it did spill a good majority of its contents on the plush carpet. "I gotta fix this! _Shit!_ He wanted – literally _begged_ – a chance – and _mercy!_ \- to talk – _shit,_ and I – fuck man, let me _go!"_

Tucker clamps his arms down harder on his friend, Sam watching with amusement as Danny rambles half the things off in his head at the same time, panicked thoughts stumbling over each other to get out fast enough.

"No?" Tucker half-laughs.

The ghost-boy struggles harder in Tucker's grip (the fact that he forgot for even a moment that he could just become intangible shows how wasted he really was), before deflating, "Why _nooot?"_ he whines.

"'Cause you're drunk, bud."

"I mean… I might be a _bit_ over the legal limit…"

"Dude, you're not even legal!"

Sam bursts out laughing, not even able to handle the two dorks on her couch. They both stare at her blankly before joining in too. Danny curls himself up into his friend's lap and lets out a deep breath. "I need to fix this though. Let's go tomorrow? I don't wanna be enemies! I didn't mean - _hiccup!_ \- _that._ I didn't _mean_ it! I just wanted to get back at him a bit and –"

"Danny, shh shh it's okay!" Sam cuts in before he gets himself worked up again, "You go tomorrow. It's the weekend, we'll cover for you. Say you're ss-staying with me. Tuck and I can go to the mall or something."

"Wait, why aren't you coming with me?!" Danny sits up so quickly he nearly knocks Tucker's glasses off his face.

He readjusts them and stares pointedly at Danny, "Uhh, because if we _wanted_ to see you two make out, we'd have gone with you _tonight?"_

Sam snorts and ducks an apologetic smile behind her drink straw. Danny looks between them, blinking, mouth open, "That's – that's not what I – I don't think he'd – especially not now – _that wasn't the point!"_ He flusters, reddening with each word.

His friends make noises of amused disagreement and he thinks about it and giggles, would that have really happened? _No way! Vlad's pissed at me, obviously, he would never – would I even want that?_

Tucker rolls his eyes and laughs at him, "Cheer up buddy, you'll see him tomorrow. Then you can kick his ass for this whole spell business."

"Unless he's too busy staring at it!" Sam crows, laughing and raising her drink in cheers.

.

* * *

.

The following morning Danny lounges in his bed, idly twirling the SD card around his fingers. After easily laughing off Tucker's loud arguments of "Friends don't let friends fly drunk!" Danny found he was more than capable of sneaking into his death trap of a house and falling right into bed, no questions asked. It helps that his parents are slightly guilty their equipment keeps going off on him, blaming his prolonged exposure to ectoplasm. _'I mean, close enough.'_ He thinks wryly.

Tucker and Sam are both still passed out in her basement, probably drooling away. They don't bounce back quite like he does. And if _Danny_ is feeling sluggish and clumsy, then _they_ will be very grouchy upon wakening.

He smirks as he turns onto his side, placing the SD card on the bedside table to stare at. How bad could the footage be? Surely hiding it from his friends is a bit cowardly. They _were_ there, just missing some rather telling details. He has to own up to his crazy revenge plan at _some_ point. He can't hide it from Vlad, the poor guy had to _live_ it after all.

And possibly ruin his human life in the process. Damn, Danny might have been too harsh. What if Vlad got caught? "I'm such an idiot." He mumbles to himself.

So he's not good at revenge. Sue him. He's the Good Guy in all this. He was _betrayed._ He has every right to be angry with his nemesis… _ex-_ nemesis?

But he's not. Not anymore, anyway, He's too conflicted. If Vlad actually regrets the whole thing and it was all a giant misunderstanding, then maybe Danny could forgive him for yet another plan spinning wildly out of control. Maybe.

He turns away from the little incriminating device, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. What would he do if Vlad regrets _everything_ and wants to go back to being enemies? It's not like they fought all that much these past couple years but now that he knows Vlad wanted to secretly train and prep him all along? Would he be able to ignore that?

He groans and hauls himself out of bed, pointedly not looking at the memory card. He plops himself down in front of his computer and checks the time. It's almost 09:30, his friends won't be awake for a little while yet.

It's Saturday morning, he's home alone, he's a healthy young man, he's got all weekend ahead of himself, and he's thinking what any other guy would be thinking in this situation.

' _How do I know if my arch nemesis actually regrets his ultimate betrayal of my trust or if he just regrets getting caught for paying criminals to fuck with my head?'_

Right, typical teenage shit.

What he wouldn't give for some plain-Jane high school drama for once in his life.

Danny shakes his head and types "Vlad Masters" into the search engine, looking for anything new or condemning being said about the man.

Nothing.

He looks for any new companies opening or other obvious power moves.

Nothing.

The only new thing in Vlad's life seems to be the unveiling of some anti-ghost fencing. Danny snorts, wondering if they're designed to keep the creator out himself too.

The quiet buzzing text from Tucker demanding greasy breakfast sandwiches and coffee finally puts an end to the research and just as well, he was coming up empty-handed anyway.

Just before leaving his room, Danny scoops up the memory card and sticks it in the wall with his other ghost-related paraphernalia. It's a hidden cache he discovered in the dead-space between drywall studs back when he was younger and has been storing notebooks and ghostly pictures with his friends ever since. It's perfect for hiding this kind of stuff from his parents.

The insistent rude text from Sam asking if he got Tucker's message has him rolling his eyes and quickly transforming. "Fenton Taxi Service on its way" he sends back.

.

* * *

.

"How about you fuck off and suck on a celery stick or something?"

" _Orrr_ how about you just open your mind a little and try _anything at all_ that isn't a meat product, you disgusting, carnivorous cliché."

"It's what my food eats, so why would _I_ eat it? That's like eating the grains the chicken eats, or the hay the cow eats. Just… no? Also, _me?_ Cliché? Look at _you."_

Sam groans, lowering her vegetarian breakfast sandwich. "You are _impossible._ Stop arguing, my head is pounding."

"Then leave me the fuck alone, witch. I will not eat your nasty ass grass clippings, _especially_ hungover."

"Maybe if you were to eat my – "

The senseless argument that has lasted literal years was mercifully cut short when the two caught sight of Danny's ghost sense. It seeped from under his elbow, since his face is pressed against the tucked arm-pillow he stuck it in after hearing his two best friends go off _yet again._

This is why friends should only hang out with friends who eat the same food groups. This conversation is so old Danny has it memorized. The only difference it has seen in the past years has been the steady upgrade in colourful language used to insult one another.

"Don't wanna." He mumbles into his arms. His hangover is nothing compared to the other two's but flying definitely didn't make things better for Danny's sluggish limbs. He feels like a zombie.

"Uhhh, maybe you do?" Tucker asks pointedly, sparking his tired friend to follow his gaze out the window.

Vlad. Of freaking course.

"Can it be like _anyone_ else? I'm too tired to deal with him."

He says that, but he watches as the man halts in his tracks on the sidewalk, readjusting the newspaper under his arm and sipping the fancy to-go coffee in his hand. He made it look so easy, eyes darting this way and that over the rim of his cup, looking for the source of his own ghost sense. So smooth and undetectable. Danny is a goddamn mess every time his own sense goes off in public (when he's not incredibly hungover).

When their eyes lock, Danny's heart slams in his chest. Vlad's eyes widen in what appears to be panic before narrowing. Then he turns on his heel and continues down the sidewalk, face a dark scowl. Danny lets out a deep breath and slumps forward onto the table once more.

"Damn, you guys are dramatic."

"Shut _up_ , Tucker."

"He's right, Danny. Just go talk to him and quit dancing around each other. Everyone knows you're gonna go apologize. And we all know he doesn't deserve it." She sips her coffee, "Tucker and I will be the muscle, as per usual."

"If that's the case then Danny is only relying on _me_ for literal muscles."

"Excuse me? Because I'm a _woman?"_

"Pffft, how do you expect to have muscles and strength when you eat plants and seeds all day? You're thin, you'll never intimidate anyone like that."

There's a slight scuffle and Danny lifts his head to witness Sam craning Tucker's hand behind his head, elbow bent at a bad angle and lips right close to his ear. "You wanna talk more about intimidation, Meat Sweats, or are ya gonna be a good boy, drink your coffee and _shut the fuck up?"_

The agreeable whimpers she gets in return renew Danny's faith in which friend is his number one for proper backup. Each have their strong points, but Sam is just plain scarier.

"Go talk to him Danny. You said you wanted to 'fix things.'"

He ignores the total casual way she talks as she manhandles Tucker into a headlock. "I'm tired today. And besides, it seems like he doesn't want to talk to me anyway." He tries not to pout, he really does.

"Duh. Put yourself in _his_ shoes. How do you think you'd react if you were him?"

Oh. Fair enough.

"Fine." He sighs, "But you're both coming with me."

They squawk and argue but soon enough Danny has them both invisible and floating alongside him down the hallways of City Hall itself. "You guys need to remember to behave," Danny whispers, "I want answers, but this is _not_ an interrogation. Got it?"

His friends nod silently at him and he quietly phases pass the secretary and into the main office's doorway.

Vlad looks up just as his three 'favourite' teens materialize in the middle of his office. He seems uncharacteristically nonplussed and returns his attention to his paperwork with a small "tsk."

Danny sees how the grip on his pen tightens and doesn't continue writing further, just hovers over the paper in fake concentration.

"I have nothing to say to you three."

"Well that's too bad," Sam steps forward quickly, "because we have questions for you."

"Loads of them." Seconds Tucker, stepping beside her and glaring at the man.

Danny huffs, watching as they immediately begin the interrogation that he specifically requested against. He folds his arms and leans against the doorframe, willing to let them take the lead while he controls his conflicting emotions.

"First off, what the _fuck?"_ Sam throws her hands out wide, attempting to gesture at the entire shitty situation. "Like, where do I even start with this one, Vlad?" She pauses, "I'm not gonna _excite_ you if I call you that, right?"

Vlad presses his lips into a firm line and clears his throat, "No." He answers simply, "The spell only targets… Mr. Fenton." He quickly sweeps his gaze to Danny in the doorway before quickly looking away again.

"'K, but _why?"_ Tuckers crosses his arms and tilts his head. "Why does this spell even _exist?"_

Vlad drops the act of finishing writing whatever he was writing before they interrupted him. He sets the pen down and leans back in his chair, sighing heavily. "I've been wondering that myself lately."

"And what are we supposed to do with that?"

"Patience, Mr. Foley." He grits out, "Originally the spell was to earn trust and companionship from D- our subject." He stumbles over Danny's name before reverting to clinical detachment. "The request was for him to feel affection every time I uttered his name. That is all." Vlad closes his eyes and tilts his head back. "They knew _damn well_ what I meant." He frowns.

"You do realize you just said, _'earn_ trust and companionship,' right?" Sam smirks, "Don't you find that word choice a bit _ironic?"_

Vlad sits up and levels a hard stare at the girl, _"I will not sit here and be lectured by a teenaged brat on language,"_ He hisses out, "I cannot very well approach you three without being attacked or shut out before the conversation has even begun. My reputation and past proceed me."

"Well who ruined that, hmm?" Tucker shakes his head, "Why not just talk to us, like a normal fucking person would, hmm? _Try?"_

Sam frowns, genuinely curious, "So you ruined your rep with us, its not impossible to fix things normally. But why the big rush and order up a spell?"

Vlad cringes and looks away, "I've never been very patient, you all are well aware of that."

"But what's happening now that's made you so impatient for change-"

" **Excuse me, Mr. Masters?"**

The intercom on the desk cuts off Sam's question and with obvious relief Vlad hurriedly pushes a button to give his secretary the go-ahead.

" **Miss Hemlin has arrived for her 11:00 appointment."**

Vlad visibly pales and snaps his gaze to the trio in front of him, "Please leave." He pleads.

Sam snorts and Tucker looks to his halfa friend, "Danny?"

Danny finally rises from his spot on the wall and steps forward.

" **Mr. Masters?"** The voice queries urgently.

Danny stares Vlad down as he takes his place between his two best friends. "I want more answers." He transforms back to human.

"Yes of course! Whatever you want. Just _leave."_ Vlad seems frozen within Danny's gaze, hand hovering over the intercom button. _'Why is he human? He needs to be in ghost form to fly…'_

" **Mr. Masters? Can I send her in? She's quite adamant."** The woman on the intercom sounds distressed but doing her best to be polite.

Danny grabs a wrist of each friend and turns them invisible. "We will wait for her to leave."

"No! That's not -"

" **Mr. Masters, she's coming in!"** The receptionist all but shouts into the intercom, clearly losing her composure.

"Argh!" Vlad growls. He's lost complete control over the situation in seconds. He straightens his tie and quickly pushes his paperwork into a drawer in his desk. His eyes scan the room warily, no doubt searching for a hint as to where his adversary is hiding.

"We will be quiet." A quiet, disembodied voice whispers.

" _That is not the point!"_ He growls lowly to the air.

The woman that bursts through the door strides with confidence and purpose. Her white kitten heels click over the polished floor as she all but sings her greetings, "Mr. Masterrrrrs! How wonderful to see you!"

Vlad stands and plasters on a quick, winning smile before taking her hand in a firm handshake. "Ah, yes good morning Mrs. Hemlin, please come in." It's obvious he wishes he could tell her to go take a hike.

"You look as handsome as ever, darling. Is that a new tie?" She takes a seat across from him, demurely crossing her ankles in her white pencil skirt and lowering her oversized bag to the side of the chair.

Vlad blinks dumbly down at his run-of-the-mill dark blue Windsor-knotted tie. Very standard. It took some effort to locate a standard tie this morning. The last red bolo was kind of... disintegrated and he felt a little unsettled about putting another one on this morning. Something about the feeling of slim, chilly fingers tugging at it... The memory had him spiraling and destroying every last bolo in a red-eyed fit.

"Yes, it's a bit more traditional..."

"It's classy and dashing and brings out your eyes, if I might be so bold."

"You're nothing if not bold Mrs. Hemlin." He mutters.

"Its Miss." She insists, fluttering her eyelashes.

Danny can literally _feel_ Sam roll her eyes.

Vlad clears his throat and leans away from her sickly, sweet smile. "Right, well. Is there any way at all I could reschedule this appointment? I'm a tad busy at the moment and -"

"Mr. Masters." She cuts him off politely yet firmly, "You have rescheduled this appointment already and honestly I'm a little miffed. If you want things to actually _happen_ this year then I have some points that must be addressed _now."_

Vlad dips his head in acquiesce and grinds his teeth together in displeasure, "Of course, my apologies Miss Hemlin. Please proceed." His shoulders imperceptibly droop in defeat.

She nods and smiles warmly, dipping a manicured hand into her bag and pulling an accordion file-folder from its depths. The papers she pulls from it are all pristine and organized in neat print. Danny can't make out what the labels are, but he can tell they're all meticulously hand-written.

She places them in front of Vlad and leans forward, sky blue blouse showing cleavage in a tantalizing display for the man across from her. If only he were paying attention. Vlad looks through the sheets and nods, "These are very well drawn up Miss Hemlin. You've already written the statements and greetings... And a full week before the deadline I set for you. Exceptional work."

She preens under his praise, smiling and pushing a stray lock of vibrant red hair behind her ear. "Anything involving you becomes my top priority, Mr. Masters." She purrs. She doesn't notice his jaw clench and continues on. "I've even taken the liberty of attaching your new logo and company name, I just don't understand why you chose to remain anonymous. This is a wonderful thing you're doing, surely it would look good for the public? It might even win you a few more votes!"

Vlad hums, looking over the papers. His eyes dart to the corner couch where he suspects Danny and his friends to be hiding – if the unusual dip in the leather is any clue to go by. "Its not meant to be widely known, it's just something nice to do. I was thinking I'd try something new."

"You're always doing nice things. This isn't exactly new. Why not let the public know how much you cherish education and let them thank you properly? The only part that's new here is hiding behind a fake logo and name. Don't you want these lucky kids to know who's putting them through school?"

 _'What?'_ Danny's mouth drops open in surprise. He feels both his friends' grips loosen (probably from shock too) and grips them harder. Can't lose the connection or they'll suddenly be visible.

A deep sigh. "Well the cat's out of the bag now anyway…" Vlad mutters quietly before raising his voice, hardening the tone, "But I still want to remain anonymous. Can you handle that, Miss Hemlin?"

She positively beams, "Of course I can handle it! You hired me for a reason Mr. Masters. I'm sure it was for my ...skills." She winks coyly at him.

"It was indeed. Now you mentioned points needing to be addressed. Let's get to those now."

Danny can hear the faint noise of Tucker hiding a snort behind his free hand. Vlad's eyes flick over briefly but return just as quickly to the woman across from him. Danny notices the slight twitch in his lips.

"Of course, of course. You must be such a very busy man. In demand all the time."

Danny rolls his eyes. Can this woman not read a room?

She pulls a notepad from her bag and leans forward, "Alright, I need from you requirements and repercussions. Let's start with the requirements. What do these kids need to have regarding grades, athletics, extracurriculars, homelife, etcetera in order to be accepted by your scholarship? Every different one has a different type of kid they cater to. What type of kid do _you_ want to cater to?"

Vlad leans back, drumming his fingers. "Is there only one type allowed? Can I not cater to as many as I want? What if I want all of them?"

Sam squeezes Danny's hand again, harder and Danny understands the sentiment. _'What the actual hell is going on here?_ '

Deborah laughs, "A family man too? You really are the whole package Mr. Masters! But seriously, you can't cater to everyone. If you want to create multiple scholarships, then we can look at that. But you need to have a certain criteria for the student to meet. You can't put everyone through school, that's quite costly and not to mention a political nightmare."

"Why not?"

"Well, when would you pull out? What if they change majors? What if they never quit school? You may be well off but this is unheard of. Also do you ignore last years' kids? And next years'? You would have to answer a lot of questions."

Vlad hums, "You raise many valid points. Alright, so I cannot be too broad. We will open multiple scholarships but perhaps not too many."

He thinks about it "There are some kids who work every day to pay for their schooling, supplies, food, whatever else. Maybe the parent can't afford it, maybe the parent creates a toxic environment or there isn't even a parent around at all. I want a scholarship dedicated to working students. With proof that they are working more often than not during the school year. They will be granted full-ride scholarships as a reward for their efforts and a chance to relax."

"That is so beautiful. Why is that the first place your mind went to?"

"Experience. I was a child who had to work twice as hard to afford my schooling. My father made an honest effort, but it was tough to keep a home and growing teenager _and_ a savings account all at once. I don't want anyone set back because of things they can't control."

"This will be quite the lucky individual!"

"Individuals. I want it for ten kids."

Deborah squawks in a rather unladylike fashion, "Vlad! you can't take on ten kids like that _and_ other scholarships too."

"Why not? I can do whatever I want." He leans back, self-satisfied in his answer.

Danny huffs a very quiet laugh through his nose and grins, unable to hide the small noise since both hands are occupied keeping his friends invisible. Vlad doesn't look over but he smirks at the barely perceptible sound.

"With all due respect, that's just too much. We are back to what I was saying before. Take on two kids."

"Six."

"Three."

A grunt "... Fine, three."

Deborah smiles at him, "So sweet." She makes a note, "Alright three full-ride scholarships for working individuals. Now we need repercussions. How about staying above a certain grade point average? Or dropping a class?"

"A passing grade is fine and they can keep the scholarship. I don't mind if they drop classes, some workloads need adjusting. If they drop everything though then I want to hear about it." He pauses and sits up straight, "I want a point of contact so I may email them or call them - their choice - and try and talk them out of giving up. I will decide personally if the scholarship stops or is on pause until they return to studies."

"… That is a little unusual Mr. Masters. Most people don't get so personal with their awardees."

Vlad lifts an eyebrow at her and says in an icy tone, "Well I am an unusual person, Miss Hemlin."

She backs off completely and makes another note. "Understood. Alright, that is the working student award. Now for another?"

The meeting continues on, Vlad choosing to award the top students in each class type, haggling over the number of students without going overboard. The final product is 10 scholarships will be awarded and each will be by grade and recommendation of a teacher. The recommendation point is so that it isn't offered to just top marks but also most passionate or most deserving – not everyone is good at test-taking after all.

Repercussions for below passing grades or dropping all classes are personal contact from Vlad himself (under his disguised title). Scholarships are awarded along with final report cards and are all full-ride programs. It took a lot of debate, but Miss Hemlin finally backed down as Vlad refused to give any form of half-assed scholarship.

Finally the meeting ends and Miss Hemlin promises to keep in touch. "You know Vlad, I am always one phone call away. Anytime of day." She leans forward again, presenting her assets and smiling widely. "I'd love to meet with you in a more _private_ setting, if you'll have me."

Vlad frowns and snaps at her, "This _is_ a private setting, Miss Hemlin. Or it better be. I wish to remain anonymous and you aren't to ruin that."

She eases back a bit and pouts. "Of course, of course. Perhaps you'd like to grab a coffee with me before the next appointment you have?" She tries again, twirling an escaped curl.

"I have a perfectly good coffee pot in the break room, I don't _go_ for coffee."

She gestures to his takeaway cup from earlier and frowns. "Why are you so cold to me, Mr. Masters? Are you maybe seeing someone secretly that no one knows about?" She laughs, expecting her question to be rhetorical. The media has been after his bachelor status for years.

He latches onto the excuse. "Yes, that's it! I didn't want to say anything to hurt your feelings but..." he trails off as Danny accidentally drops the invisibility with shock while Sam beside him snorts before slapping a hand over her mouth. Her eyes widen but are still crinkled with mirth. Tucker stares at them, suddenly realizing they're visible.

Vlad locks eyes with Danny, ..."I'm suddenly _seeing someone."_ He raises an eyebrow at the teens before turning back to his company with put-on cheerfulness. The teens wink out of sight again.

Deborah turns her head to look at what caught his attention, but seeing nothing, turns back to Vlad and makes a great fuss of apologizing for assuming.

Danny jolts at the pinch in his side and harshly chills his grip on Tucker in retaliation.

"My apologies, I had no idea." She smiles politely, scooping up the paperwork and notes and gently packing them in her bag. "If that is all the points you have for me then I will head back to my office. I'll send you an email when the final touches have been made so you can approve them for printing. Good day to you, Mr. Masters." She hurriedly flees the office.

The room is silent for a long, heavy moment.

"Are you three still here?" he finally asks the room.

He groans when he sees them become visible again. The two remain seated, patting Danny before lounging back and waiting. His move. They don't seem interested in the interrogation any more since both became confused with Vlad's motives.

Danny is too. He steps forward and rubs his hands together with put-upon enthusiasm. "So!"

Vlad groans and reaches for his coffee cup, taking a deep gulp like it'll solve all of his current problems. He grimaces, it's gone cold.

"She seems nice." Danny barely holds back a grin at Vlad's expression.

"Do _not_ start."

Danny laughs at the man's expense, watching him grumble into his take-away cup. "Alright… Scholarships? _Really?"_

Vlad's face pinches like he ate a particularly sour lemon, whole. "You weren't meant to hear any of that. Why are you here eavesdropping anyway?"

"You know I came here for answers."

Vlad sighs rather aggressively, hanging his head and patting his hands on the top of his wide desk. All the usual signs of distress and discomfort are unusual coming from him, but Danny is unyielding, stance firm and waiting.

"It was supposed to make you feel friendliness, nothing more. I swear it! Just the desire to be pleasant and kind." He exhales and studies his fingernails, "Just enough to get you to lower your guard with me."

Danny tilts his head, "Then what?"

Vlad pauses, "Do we have to do this right now?"

"Answer the question, _Vlad."_ Danny steps forward, attention fixed on the man and his miniscule flinch, "Then. What?"

Vlad holds his hands up in surrender, "Fine! Fine! Just don't - don't do _that_ , again. Please." At the agreeable nod from the teen, he drops his hands again and proceeds quietly, "I was going to try and take your ghost-half away again."

At the outraged sputtering from all three, Vlad cuts in quickly, "I know, I _know._ I'm well aware of Dan and that whole _fiasco_. I was going to try another method." He turns his chair to the side and leans back, trying to appear nonchalant and not fooling anyone. "But that was only Plan B, really."

"Oh, only Plan _B!"_ Sam bites out sarcastically, "Attempting to rip out half of someone's identity, especially after already seeing how this utter catastrophe went down in another timeline…" Sam shakes her head, too flabbergasted to continue.

"Isn't the definition of 'insanity' the act of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?" Tucker pipes up, frowning from the couch.

"I would like to get this over with at a decent time today," Vlad sends a withering glare at the two, "Please reign in your guard dogs Daniel."

Danny feels the spell prickle his forehead and narrows his flashing eyes, _"Don't say my name,_ Vlad." His icy words are mirrored by the sudden drop in temperature.

The man bristles as the use of the spell begins twisting his insides into tight knots and looks up to the teen's face. He lifts an eyebrow, then quickly frowns and averts his gaze. "I will not be humiliated once more Mr. Fenton. So if that is what you're here for then you may turn-"

Danny shakes his head, "No, no, c'mon, wait. I'm _trying_ to be civil here. Just don't be a dick for like, 10 minutes, okay?"

Vlad grunts as his ears heat, feeling completely at the mercy of a teenager once again, "How do I get you to _leave?"_

Danny pushes out a humourless laugh, taking in the hunched shoulders and desperate eyes of the man across from him, "Tell me what Plan A was, then maybe we'll go."

"Well, it was…" Vlad falters, looking at Anywhere Else and feeling his shame threaten to swallow him up. _'This is ridiculous, just spit it out and get on with your life. He won't kill you, obviously. Maybe you can move somewhere warm for a couple years, somewhere with beaches and lots of fruity drinks and no teenagers with ice affinities.'_

He puts on a brave face, mind set and finally speaks, "Plan A was to have you work with me. Have you let down your guard enough to look past my … previous plans and plots and join me in my work?" He cringes at the embarrassing words before barrelling on, "You're a smart young man, I could use that - besides obviously the ghost powers - you have a natural skill with people that took me years to develop. And I cheated some-most-alright _a lot_ of the time."

He drums his fingers along the desktop nervously. Might as well get it all out there now. "And I wasn't lying about us sticking together, I wasn't lying about anything else, as a matter of fact." He looks at his hands, resting atop the desk and imagines the countless times he's raised them against this boy. He clenches them into fists, "I can't imagine never seeing you again." Maybe he'd come looking for Vlad on whatever island he's chosen to relax at (read: hide) in a couple years' time, after this whole mess blows over and becomes just an unfortunate memory. They could commiserate over mojitos and mai tais.

Danny shifts, bringing Vlad's distracted attention back into focus.

He turns to look at his two friends on the couch, wide eyes imploring them for their help. Sam and Tucker are just as wide-eyed and nonverbal as he is.

"Right, um," Danny clears his throat, "You've given us a lot to think about. I need… I need to process all of this."

He settles a glare at the man across from him, pointing aggressively for good measure, "This doesn't mean you're off the hook yet, Fruitloop." He wonders briefly if Vlad will try to cut town for a bit – it would be _so_ typical of him. "I expect to see you at my house for dinner next week as per usual. Don't try to skip out of that for any reason, I _will_ find you, and I _will_ make full use of this spell to humiliate you. I don't care _who_ is around. Understand?" He is very impressed with himself, especially when he sees Vlad blanche and sputter very obvious " _Of course_ "s and " _I would never_ "s. Mhm. Figures.

As Vlad visibly sags like a forgotten birthday balloon, Danny strides back to the couch, transforming on the way. "I'll see you next week."

"Yes, yes, I understand." He mutters, not looking as he waves his hand dismissively. He feels the room warm slightly and instinctually knows the trio has finally gone. "What a mess." He groans.


End file.
